Dawning Radiance
by Tsukii282
Summary: The world of demons is one that has been unseen by humans for eternity, until human girl Valshe Marina meets the demon team of Xander Costello and Damien Ravi...story is in Xander's POV, and I suck at summaries, so take a look!  Completed
1. Ethereal

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T, because of violence; no swearing though, since my I have a teacher that reads this for a grade from time to time, and I'll get points counted off. Otherwise D would totally have a potty mouth

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please don't use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

My vision was much too blurry with tears of agony

to see what was happening, not that I'd actually wanted to…every pore of my body screamed with pain, and the only thing keeping me awake was the same substance that had brought about my fathers end. I could hear myself give one final cry, followed by the deep, menacing laughter of the man towering in front of my collapsed body before my entire tiny world went black. It felt almost like I was falling into endless nothingness, and I quickly found that, try as I might, I couldn't move any part of my excruciatingly numb body, and after an exhausting ten minutes of fighting to gain use of it, I gave up and cried until my conscious finally let me slip under.

I jolted awake, panting hard, my slender frame soaked with a cold sweat, while the silence in the room threatened to bring the memories back to the surface. I sat up and ignored the dizziness that followed, as that, along with the nightmares, were a normal occurrence now, instead focusing as much of my attention as I could on pushing my messy hair out of my face. It had been almost nine years since I had died, but the nightmare still haunted me; to the point where it happened every time I slept and making it so I got little to no sleep now; not that a Demon typically got much sleep anyways.

The loud banging on my bedroom door had me gingerly pushing myself off the bed and grabbing a shirt to pull over my head to answer the still-knocking visitor. I swung the door open, barely able to mutter a 'what?' before my Incubus friend and roommate Damien glided; that was the only way to describe how gracefully he walked, into the room and sprawled onto his rumpled bedspread with a heaving sigh.

I smirked and strolled over to the table to grab his keychain and throw it to him "Fat lotta good those'll do me now" he grumbled, rolling onto his stomach to stuff them into the back pocket of his loose fitting sweats. My smirk widened when I got a good look at him, his violet eyes glowing, red lipstick marked his right cheek and neck, and his dirty blonde hair looked as if someone had set a tornado on it. "So…" I started, leaning casually up against the table to watch him "What poor human girl did you seduce this time?" I asked, as his trademark grin crossed his face. "Well, my naive little Xander, I can honestly and proudly say that I have no idea who she was." He replied winking happily "I have to say, that's a record even for you, huh?" I shook my head, half in disapproval, half in appreciation, at the fact that, yes, Damien got the women he wanted, when he wanted them, but he was gone almost every night and didn't seem to know the meaning of the words 'serious relationship'.

"Nah, it was close to it though…hey, tell ya what, tonight when I go out, you can come too and we'll find you a babe okay?" I nodded submissively; there was no point in arguing with Damien when it came to girls, everyone in the underworld knew that "Great, be ready when I wake up then" he told me, and rolled back onto his side to nap.

I didn't want to go, clubs had never really been my thing, too many grinding, closely packed bodies, too much dark smoke that threatened to choke you if you took too big of a breath, and too many humans that ended up bleeding by the time they left, which made it impossibly hard for me to stay sane, considering the fact that blood (aside from an Angels; theirs stinks) awoke my demonic instincts.

Sighing heavily, I trudged over to the cupboard to grab a cup, then to the sink to fill it, grumbling to myself all the while. The sounds of my ringtone reverberated from my bedside table, and for a moment, I wanted to ignore it, even though I knew I couldn't; I was on the clock and if I wanted my life to run smoothly, I wouldn't give my higher ups any more reasons to really kill me.

I pushed the talk button and took a deep breath "Hello?" I asked the caller, waiting for my response "Xander, we have another Angel causing problems" Yuna, my boss' secretary informed me blandly "Where's the filthy thing this time?" I inquired, smirking in anticipation of what was possibly the best part of my job "Last time we spotted him, he was on his way out of the pits" I heard one boss, Master Leon from the sound of it, yell something in the background "Xander? Make it fast" she ordered before hanging up.

It had been quite a while since I'd had to use my wings to get anywhere, and I had to admit, unfurling them was a feeling that was absolutely incomparable to anything else. I could sense that I was getting closer, an Angel's aura was almost impossible to miss; even humans could slightly feel their presence, and that was really saying something, due to their utter lack of perceptual powers.

I heard a small chuckle and whipped around, stopping immediately "So then, they sent you after me did they little Demon boy? I don't really feel like fighting a weakling such as yourself, so if you'd kindly move…" the Angel flapped his huge, sleek wings, sending a powerful gust forward that easily blew me aside, allowing him to zip past, laughing superiorly.

I quickly started after him, unsheathing my blade and pressing my palm against the cool metal face, causing it to resonate and flare to life, purplish black tendrils coming off of it like fire, and I yelled as I swung it at him. Shrieking, he stiffened and dropped a few feet before whirling around and shoving his hand out in front of him, sending a palm sized orb of white light speeding towards me "This is why I hate all you Angels, you think you're all so perfect just because you live in Heaven, well here's what I think of that!" I called to him, dodging the bullet and diving at him, slamming hard into his chest with my shoulder. He grabbed me around the arms and shook my sword from my hand, sending it plummeting down to the fiery pits below "All you Demons are is a bunch of trouble makers! We gave you all many chances to come back to Heaven, all of which were barbarically refused, and what do you have to show for it? Absolutely nothing!" he growled into my ear as I squirmed stubbornly.

I heard him mutter something before a shock ripped it's way through my body, giving me nothing to do but struggle jerkily against him "Just give up and I'll let you go" he told me over the ringing in my ears "In your dreams" I panted out, shouting roughly as another, stronger volt made it's way through. I knew that I had to get away from him, and fast if I were to make it back home, and thrust my foot back as hard as I could.

To my relief, it connected to his knee, and his grip loosened enough for me to pull one arm free and elbow him in the temple, so that he let go completely and I could fly a further distance away to catch my breath. "You'll regret that scum" he coughed, pulling out a bow and sliding an arrow into place before fluidly pulling back, letting the gleaming projectile cut through the air and nick my shoulder, leaving a searing cut and a trickle of blood in it's place. "Dodging that last one was just luck, this next one will run you through" he yelled, repeating the motions and letting another glittering silver arrow zip towards me, which I quickly dodged "You're planning on killing me with one arrow? Good luck with that you pompous wimp" I laughed, earning me an evil glare.

"That's exactly what I plan to do; these arrows are made of a special ore that reacts deathly well in Demons…which is why your arm feels like it's burning right now" he informed me, loosing yet anther arrow that narrowly missed me, and I dove to the ground, skimming over it in frantic search of my sword, instead catching the leg of my jeans on one of the Angels discarded arrows.

I didn't even give it a second thought, but ripped it from the durable fabric and flung it at the Angel with all of my strength, watching as it pierced his abdomen, giving him only enough time to give a pained yelp before he exploded into shimmering ash-like powder that drifted lightly to the ground. I narrowed my eyes at the arrows that still littered the battle field and absent mindedly held my bleeding shoulder as I hurriedly picked them up and headed down to the HQ with a satisfactory smile.

As it turned out, the metal was just as lethal to Angels as it was to Demons, and they'd forced me into the medic's office to sit around and grumble as they poked and prodded at my shoulder, trying to figure out just how they could counteract the burning sensation that pounded up and down my arm.

In the end, all they could do was shoot me full of a demons equivalent of pain killers and send me back to my room, where I found Damien eating a bowl of cereal in an expensive looking black button down shirt with thin, far spaced royal blue lines vertically striping it, faded dark wash jeans and black shoes, completely contrasting his mop of dirty blonde hair, which at the moment was wavy and damp, his violet shaded eyes shone dully in the dimmed light.

He glanced up at me over the rim of his bowl and snorted into his milk, sending it splashing over both him and the table "What in the Heaven happened to you?" He inquired, still chuckling madly "Angel" I replied shortly, pulling my torn shirt over my head and letting it drop to the ground before stalking over to my small closet to look for something to wear "I see…you know what? Go take a shower, I'll get your clothes ready" he told me, herding me towards our larger than necessary bathroom and shutting the door behind me.

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror as I passed and grimaced, noting how dirt smeared my face was, with light circles starting to form under my dark blue eyes, how wind blown and dirty my coal black hair looked, the countless bruises that had yet to heal completely that marked my torso, and the swelling red gash that sat on my shoulder, as if teasing me. Yeah, I thought to myself absently, I really needed a shower.

Turning away from the reflection with a heavy sigh, I yanked the rest of my clothes off and stepped into the shower before turning the hot water on full blast to not only wash away the dirt and grime of the fight, but the dull ache that seemed to cloak me, mind and body.

So, maybe I also needed some sleep with my shower, because after I'd given myself one final rinse, I fell asleep until the water ran cold, Damien had unlocked the door and was standing outside the curtains, asking me if I'd drowned.

I stood up and turned the water off, grabbing the towel that hung on the curtain bar and wrapping it around my thin waist before sliding the curtain aside to step out. Damien smirked and handed me fresh clothes, "Now, now Xander, sweeping in the baff tub is vewy dangerous okaaaay?" he taunted in a mocking, childish tone, while he shook a finger at me strictly "Shut up" I retorted, swiftly pushing him out of the room and slamming the door just as quickly behind him. I toweled off, pulled the new clothes on and ran my hand through my hair, glancing at my reflection in the mirror to assure myself that I looked better than when I had stepped in.

"D? How long was I in there for?" I called, raising an eyebrow as I pawed through the drawers for deodorant "About an hour…" he replied from the living room, and I could almost see his amused smile even from here "I see…I guess I was a bit more tired than I thought I was" I frowned, and opened the bathroom door "You still not sleeping?" he asked, giving me a once over "Barely" I told him, watching as a grin spread over his features "That's too bad, but hey, I did a really good job choosing this outfit for you kid, the girls are gonna be all over you!" he nodded in a self satisfied manner and continued to scrutinize me.

'This outfit' that he'd referred to consisted of a fitted long sleeved shirt, the same color blue as my eyes, and crisp, classic jeans that were ripped at the knees "Hang on a sec…" he muttered, quickly running his hands through my hair and stepping back to admire his work "There, now don't mess with it" he gave me a thumbs up and turned towards the door "Yes, ma'am" I replied, earning me a playful punch in my still throbbing shoulder.

It took us but moments to teleport from the main floor of the HQ to a dank alleyway about a block away from the club we were headed to, and soon we were stepping in front of a huge building with flashy neon lights and loud bass pumping from the constantly opening door.

We skillfully made our way to the front of the line and presented our 'ID's' to the built, stereotype bouncer, who simply nodded and stepped aside for us.

Inside, the club was unbearably noisy, and people were so closely packed on the dance floor that you'd be on top of someone if you tried to take a quarter step backwards. Every breath you took was sugar coated in the strong smells of alcohol, smoke, sweat and perfume, making it impossible to breathe without gagging, and even though we had just walked in, a fight had already exploded at a table close to the bar.

As we walked in, we were greeted by two cocktail waitresses whose faces were so caked and smeared with makeup that it was hard to tell if they were dressed up for a job or a Halloween commercial "Just two Cokes for now ladies" Damien ordered, sending them off with a flick of his wrist.

For a long time it seemed like all we did was hit on girls and wander around, until Damien made the mistake of dirty dancing with a woman whose fiance was at the bar to get them something to drink.

"Wha'chu doin' with my wifey boy?" the tanned, muscular man snarled, giving Damien a good shove "I was showing her a better time than her drunken husband" he replied coolly, pushing the man back, sending him stepping backwards in surprise. "You pickin' a fight with me? Is tha' what chu want?" the man slurred, lifting his large hands in a mocking fashion, straightening up and pushing up against Damien fiercely.

"I would, but I don't like beating up on the weak," Damien smirked "But you do need to back off there little man" he gave the man another strong shove, sending him crashing onto his back "D!" I hissed, but the man had gotten back up, gave a loud roar and swung a tribal tattooed arm at Damien, who moved aside gracefully "You dunno who yer messin' with kid! I'ma get you good!" he yelled and hurled himself at D, this time contacting with his chest and making him lose balance for the briefest second.

The fight went on like that, Damien absolutely thrashing him in the end, and we were both quickly kicked out, causing Damien to laugh in ecstasy "That was great!" he whooped after we had Shaded, his jet black and gold tipped wings erupting from his back "Yeah…" I replied absently. Though it had been entertaining to watch Damien beat the guy, I was more focused on the quiet whimpering sounds coming from a slight girl, probably a year or two younger than me, with shoulder length slivery white hair, and eyes gold, with small, but noticeable flecks of a white cream.

"Hey, what do you think her problem is?" I asked, nudging Damien, who squinted around me to stare at her "No idea, but don't you think it's kind of odd how she's staring right through us? It's almost like she's whimpering at us" he replied, edging slowly over to her "It is, isn't it…? But humans can't see Demons when we're Shaded, so that can't be right" never the less, I moved towards her cautiously and held one hand out to her.

That probably wasn't the best idea I'd ever had…she screamed and squirmed down the wall away from me, covering her face with one tiny hand "What in the…" Damien trailed off, staring imperiously at the girl whose eyes were now as wide a dinner plates and who was even paler than the full moon that shone over head "Damien! Hide your wings!" I hissed, moving slowly towards the girl "Why? It's not like she hasn't already seen them anyways…" he answered grumpily, but did as he was told. "We aren't going to hurt you miss…no need to be afraid" I cooed, edging slightly closer "S-stay away from me!" she yelled, holding up her hands to shield herself "If that's what you want…" I murmured soothingly, standing up and returning to Damien.

The girl watched us suspiciously while we whispered a hushed conversation, motioning from her to each other, finally ending in Damien rolling his eyes and me throwing my hands in the air in defeat. Both of us turned to look at her, all of our eyes meeting, before Damien finally walked over to her, exuding the seductive vibes only an incubus could and sat next to the girl, who watched him cautiously "So…" he began, reaching out to brush her shoulder lightly, playfully.

She yelped at the touch and smacked him hard across the face, leaving a red handprint like a badge of honor in its wake "Ow! What was that for? I didn't even say two words to you!" he yelled, jumping up and stomping back over to me "Deal with her" he grumbled, roughly shoving me at her.

I stumbled and let myself drop to my knees in front of her, trying hard to give her a comforting look "You can see us then…" I muttered, more to myself than to her.

"W-what are you?" she whispered, her pretty face distraught with fright "Well, I'm Xander Costello, I'm a Black blood Ravager Demon, and my friend over there, the one you hit? His name is Damien Ravi, and he's a True blood Incubus" I murmured, watching with relief as her tension lessened a bit. "Demons…? But aren't you supposed to be in…you know…" she trailed off, her face lightening with interest and disbelief "Hell? Because we were banished by the fat head of a God you humans and Angels blindly follow? Please, you shouldn't believe everything you hear, he doesn't even exist" Damien growled, obviously angry; the way humans seemed to swoon at the though of Angels and God had always sickened him, and it was never any fun to be around him when he really got started.

Not to mention when someone called him out on the fact that no Demon knew for sure if God was real or not; we weren't even sure some Angels knew.

The girl blushed and stared down into her lap, tensing up once more "We can't really tell you too much about that, but to answer your question, no, we aren't trapped there, we come and go as we please" I told her, causing her to look up at me slightly and give a shy smile "Oh, what's your name by the way?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in question "Well…I'm...Valshe…Valshe Marina" she replied hesitantly, suddenly avoiding my eyes.

I nodded and smiled a little "Have you always been able to see Ethereals?" I moved to stand up and offered her my hand to help her up, which she reluctantly took and let me pull her to her feet "Since I was little…I always convince myself that it's just a regular person who decided to dress like a freak…" she answered, shrinking back as Damien suddenly spoke "So now we're freaks? Let me tell you something little girl, if anything, you humans are the freaks, the only reason you're here…" Damien was promptly cut off when I jabbed my elbow into his ribs, and he in return sent me a menacing glare.

"I'm sorry" she told him quietly "I didn't mean for it to come out like that…" Damien just scoffed and turned away, leaning against the wall of the building and staring mutely into the distance "Oh yeah…I don't just see people with wings either…sometimes its things that look like crosses between animals and monsters, other times just huge people with no eyes, and stitches all over, like they're falling apart, and others still that have rows after rows of teeth, like a shark, or drools what looks like acid and smells like blood, or walk along, bent over backwards, like their backs were broken, and groan about how delicious different humans smell or look…are they Demons too?" she asked, her eyes stuck somewhere between desperate and hopeful.

It was everything I could do to keep my mouth from dropping, and I openly gaped at her "You see Under Dwellers too? But you're just a human aren't you?" I asked, hearing even Damien suck in a surprised breath "Those are just monsters then…and of course I'm human!" she replied, still working hard to avoid my gaze. I shook my head in sheer confusion, before glancing up at her once more "There's no way" I argued, glancing quickly at Damien, who was watching me carefully "I am though…my mom is human, and my father is too! There is absolutely no way…well…maybe there is but…I can't be…" her gaze fell to the floor and I saw tears of frustration begin to form in her eyes, which she quickly sniffed away.

Silently, Damien pulled himself from the wall and approached her, his face fixed in an emotionless frown "If you come with us for a little while we can get it figured out" he grumbled regretfully "Wha-? No way am I coming with either of you! How do I know you're not just going to rape me, or kill me, or…?" she backed away as I reached again for her small, warm hands, but I caught them easily.

They were fragile and smooth, completely rigid in mine, but she made no apparent effort to pull away; her whole body had gone stiff with nerves. "You think we're a lot worse than we actually are Valshe" I murmured, and started down the alleyway, her following blankly behind me, followed by Damien, who had pulled a metallic rod out of his pocket, about two inches thick, and only about as long as his hand. He whipped it downwards, causing it to lengthen, and form a large, deadly looking spear tip at the end with a glowing, crimson colored orb in the center; his Oni.

"You want to do it or should I?" he asked, holding it out to me "You can…you know I'm no good at using Artes…we'd sooner end up in one of the Seraphs chambers than back at HQ" I smiled, and he pulled it back with a sigh "Alright then, suit yourself" he replied and clapped the bottom of the rod on the ground, muttering a series of complicated spells while drawing a simple transport symbol on the dirt at his feet before a dark light absorbed the three of us and we were hurtling back home.

We were jolted to a stop, and Valshe was swaying with the shock of having been through a Demon Arte, her face taking on a greenish hue as if she were going to puke.

Her first few steps were staggered but she soon regained her balance and we were on our way to Master Paulet upstairs, for my second time that day. Pushing the heavy, carved oak doors open and strolling into the office, we were greeted by Yuna, tapping speedily away at her laptop, who at first didn't bother to look up as we entered "I'm sorry, but Master Paulet doesn't have anymore openings for today, can you come back…oh, Damien! How have you been sweetie? It's been much too long since I've seen you…" she carefully put her laptop down and clicked her way down the marble flooring to lean her curvy body against his "I've been fine babe, but is there any way you could squeeze us in on that list? It's an emergency…" he hooked a finger under her chin, and pulled her face up as if he were going to kiss her, which truthfully, wouldn't be surprising for D.

"Anything for you Damien! You know, I have been sooo lonely lately-" I wrinkled my nose in disgust and stopped listening, pulling Valshe towards the Masters office and leaving Damien to deal with the poor Demon girl, whom he'd probably fooled into one of his 'I "love" you when it's convenient' kind of relationships he'd pulled most of the women who worked at the HQ into.

"Excuse me…Master Paulet?" I called quietly, knocking on the door a few times before stepping in, Valshe right behind me. "Xander? What are you doing back so soon? And why do you have a human girl with you?" Master Paulet was by far the youngest enforcer we had at this facility, holding onto a healthy 23 years, which almost made him a child, since True Blood Demons were ageless.

He sported a black silk suit with a sleek crimson red button down shirt hanging loosely under it, and his long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail that hung just above his shoulders. His clean, blemish-free face had the easy smile that anyone would recognize as a leaders.

"You see Master, Damien and I found her when we went out to a human club in California, she could see us even when we had Shaded…and it's not only us…she can see the Under Dwellers as well, but she claims she's human" I reported, watching his face go from mildly interested to entranced, and he soon cleared his throat and stood up, gracefully striding towards Valshe with a hushed sort of urgency.

"Is this true?" he asked, eyes widening as she confirmed it with a stiff nod "Fascinating…" he whispered, hand covering his mouth in thought before suddenly holding his hand out to her "I'm sorry, how rude of me…my name is Kale Falsion Paulet, I'm a True Blood Reaper Demon, and I run this fine facility" he smiled disarmingly; a specialty of his, and took her hand carefully, lightly kissing the back.

"M-my name is umm…I'm Valshe Marina…nice to meet you…" she replied shyly, her cheeks the color of a ripe raspberry "And what a lovely name it is" he complimented, letting go of her hand and strolling back over to sit lightly on the edge of his desk.

For a short while, he watched us, resting his chin on his folded hands, elbows firmly planted on his legs "Mr. Costello, I am glad to know you share my interest when anomalies such as this turn up…not saying that you're an oddity Ms. Marina, it's just your power has never been found in humans before, there have been cases where humans have been able to see their guardian Angels, but even that is an extremely rare occurrence." Master Paulet smirked and shook his head "Master…what do you think it is? She has an aura like a human, but sometimes half Demons Awaken late" I leaned casually up against the wall near the door, my arms crossed against my chest while he gave her another quick once over.

He shook his head in defeat and shrugged "I really have no idea Mr. Costello, so I'll just have you bring her downstairs for the more scientific minds to figure out" he smiled contentedly as I nodded obediently, opening the door and motioning for Valshe to step through "Thanks…" she murmured, her head down as she passed.

Shutting the door silently, I turned to Valshe, who was looking around the office in meek confusion "Where did…um…" she stammered, still glancing around "Damien and Yuna go? Trust me human, you don't want to know" I continued walking, leaving Valshe to scurry along behind me, moving at almost a jog to keep up with my long legged stride "Oh," was all she replied with.

Personally, I hated going into the twelfth floor, even though we were supposed to go there after every mission we were sent on so we could make sure we wouldn't be 'infected' by the Angels, no one ever did, and there was good reason for that. The Demons that ran that area were usually only half Demon, half Under Dweller, which made us more than a little wary of them being there since the Under Dwellers took many of our kind and brutally sacrificed them in belief that if they did, the Angels and Nephilim would leave them alone.

Clicking the button on the elevator reluctantly, I wondered idly on the ride down if I could get away with just bringing her back to the room and trying to figure it out myself. Not likely, I thought and sighed heavily "What's wrong?" Valshe asked suspiciously, as the elevator stopped with a quiet whoosh and the door opened with a ding "I hate this place" I replied, grabbing her wrist and leading her out as an ice Nixie pushed past us and quickly jammed her finger on the button for her floor "That makes two of us" I heard her growl, almost silently, but I let it slide; she was probably having a much worse day than me.

We walked down the hall, saying nothing to each other, until we reached a cold, sliding metal door with a bronze plate hanging just below my eye level "Arcanic Studies of the Third Dimension…" Valshe read, frowning "Just be quiet, don't touch anything and stay close okay?" I looked down at her "Okay" she replied weakly and moved aside as I slid the door open silently.

The room we walked into was large, with walls painted a dull brown, the floor uncarpeted, leaving it the solemn gray concrete that the building was constructed out of, wooden chairs were lined up perfectly against the walls and back to back in the middle of the room, and there was a large metallic desk at the wall farthest from the door, behind which someone that resembled a fire enveloped human stood, watching us with hard to see black eyes that were also sheathed in flames.

Valshe gasped, her hand flew to cover her mouth, keeping her from screaming, and she moved so she was standing directly behind me.

Reaching the desk we were met with the reeking smell of burning flesh, and I felt Valshe stiffen behind me "I need to see Forte" I told it shortly "Master Paulet sent us" it nodded, and I heard the crunch of it's charred neck as it did so. "He'll right out sir…" its voice was dry, but bubbled and crackled like a boiling pot of water "Sure" I replied, and pulled Valshe to a pair of chairs behind a large round pillar.

Sitting down in the hard chair, I wrinkled my nose in disgust and closed my eyes with sheer frustration "What is that…?" Valshe whispered, leaning close enough that I could feel her warm breath against my ear "An Under Dweller…not even half a Demon, the disgusting thing" I grumbled in reply, opening one eye to glance down at her reaction, which was to slowly peek around the pillar at it with wide eyes.

"Why is it here if it's not a Demon?" she asked, still staring "Because as much as Master Paulet argues, his higher ups say it's essential to have them around for labor purposes" I stood up as the door opened and Forte's 5'10, dark blonde headed figure appeared, who was probably the only real Demon in the whole department. "Come on in Xander" he called, holding the door open as we approached him "Ah, Xander and friend" he gave a short laugh as we passed, moving into a bleak hall way, where Forte lead us to the very last door on the left, and shut it behind him with click.

He sat himself down in a dark blue swivel chair and motioned or us to sit in the same colored armchairs across from him "So, who do we have here?" he asked calmly, glancing from me to Valshe and back again "This is Valshe, a human that can see us, the Under Dwellers and I'm assuming the Angels and Nephilim as well" I informed him, sighing as he handed me a syringe full of a dark purplish liquid; my 'medicine'.

When he turned his back I pressed the contents into my cupped palm and heated it until the liquid evaporated, setting the now empty syringe on the walnut finished table in front of us.

"I see…that's an interesting occurrence indeed" he spoke slowly, his low voice smooth and careful. Rolling over to his desk, he opened one of the cabinets and pulled out a small white packet, and a clear square of glass, then turned to Valshe and smiled menacingly "Name's Forte, remember it Angel worshipper" he said, ripping the packet open loudly and pulling out a scalpel, black handled and sharpened to a perfect and glittering point. Examining it carefully, as one might examine a car for scratches, he grinned, apparently satisfied and began to spin it idly around his finger "Alrighty human, give me your hand" he ordered, holding his own hand out expectantly.

Valshe looked from him to the scalpel nervously "Is this really necessary?" she asked, clutching her hand against her chest protectively. Forte glared and snatched her hand away roughly "Look human, you may not know the rules around here, but it's common sense to obey your higher-ups" he spat venomously, positioning the scalpel so it hung just above her bare palm.

Across the room, I yawned in boredom and Forte in turn snapped his head around in surprise, as if he'd forgotten I was there "Oh, Xander…you should probably go until I can get this cleaned up" he told me, motioning lazily towards the door, which swung open and I hesitantly stepped through "Be careful Forte, she's a fighter" I remarked, meeting his grin with one of my own before swinging the door shut behind me and heading out to the waiting room.

There are a lot of places in the world where I really don't want to be and this waiting room was swiftly reaching the top of the list. I sat gingerly on the wooden chair farthest away from the desk, right next to the exit, which I desperately wanted to fling myself through at the moment so I could go back to my room and at least pretend to get some sleep, when the door slid open and Damien stepped through, looking pleased with himself.

Plopping down in the chair next to me, seemingly oblivious to the resistant groans it made as he did so, he stared at me with a dopey grin until I finally turned to him "Don't even start" I growled as he opened his mouth to say something, most likely about his tryst with Yuna.

"What?" he asked incredulously, his smile replaced with a sort of pout "You ditched me with the human to go sleep with a secretary" I replied sourly, glancing up at the now empty reception desk "She's not just any secretary Xander, she's-" he began, but stopped mid-sentence at the chilling glare I sent him "Look, I know that was pretty low, but the human doesn't even like me anyways, so what was the point of staying?" he turned his gaze towards the ceiling with disinterest "Know what? Forget it." I muttered, seeing him close his eyes and doing the same.

We stayed silent for a while, not moving much except the occasional shift in position when Damien spoke once more "Sorry" he said quietly, nudging me gently with his elbow "It's fine" I answered automatically; Damien and I were partners; bound by a Blood Bond, and on top of that, he was the closest, if not one of the only real friends I had, so it was near impossible to stay mad at each other for too long.

Standing up to stretch, I yawned and looked down at Damien "I'm going to get something to drink, want anything?" I asked, turning to leave "I don't care, but don't get anything from this floor, no one knows what the Under Dwellers have done to the stuff" he yelled to my retreating figure "Whatever" I told him, and made a beeline for the elevator.

A/N: I hope you all enjoy this story as it is the first one I've ever put up on here...I will try to update this regularly (like once a week to every other week) but some times I will not be able to as RL tends to sneak up on us all from time to time. Until next time, please review and make sure you don't follow strange demons into dark, deserted ally ways like sweet little Valshe, no matter how cute/hot/whatever they may be, okay?


	2. Infiltration!

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: Still T. Still for violence. Yes, my teacher is still reading this. And in case you were wondering, yes, I could edit the one she reads, but I'm too lazy.

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

I clicked the button for the next floor down, not even noticing what floor it was until the elevator had come to a shaky stop and I had gotten out, though I'd had to do a double take when I did.

The prison floor of our building was where we put Angels and Aephilim for questioning, Under Dweller thieves that thought they could make a quick buck by selling our weaponry to some uneducated sap in the Under Realms that thought they could use them, and the occasional Demons that had decided to side with the fools up in Heaven and betrayed us.

There had been very few times when I'd actually been to this floor, and it had always been under supervision, so curiosity pulled at me like the need to breathe.

Looking around to be sure no one was there watching me, I started towards where the cells began and peered silently into one. Inside a black haired Angel hung limply from crystalline shackles, two pairs of slim white wings hanging uselessly at his sides, his worn body was covered in vicious welts, scars and cuts that looked an awful lot like the one that marked my shoulder.

He looked up solemnly, and he stared at me for a long time. "You aren't the usual guy" he whispered, his melodic voice sounded raspy and weak "I'm not here because of you" I replied coolly, watching with disgust as his face smoothed in relief "I see," he groaned suddenly, and spasmed in obvious pain. "Then why are you here?" he asked, odd teal eyes locking to mine "I don't feel the need to tell you that, Angel" I spat, and watched him smirk and nod.

"Fair enough" he told me, and let his gaze fall back to the floor "They tested those arrows on you huh?" I inquired, leaning gently up against the thick, sound sensitive glass "I suppose that you were the one who brought them back?" he returned, sounding more confident than before "I assume you were hit as well?" he added after a long pause "Yeah, what of it?" I looked over my shoulder at him, and our eyes met once more "It's just odd how you never realize how alike we all are until you can actually talk to someone different from you" he said, and gave the smallest of smiles.

Though I tried to hide it, I could feel my eyes widening "I am nothing like you" I shot back, spinning to face him full on "Really? I bet I can sum up your day, because it is a lot like mine; like all Angels and Demons. Wake up early, head out to do some dangerous task that your higher ups assign to you, get hurt, come back, report, repeat until you aren't good enough, then sit around and wait until they call upon you again…the only real difference between us is the fact that both of our races believe that they are better than the other, because that is how we're raised" he mused, his smile fading fast. I had nothing to say in return, so instead I ran a hand uneasily through my hair, realizing that in the beginning, Angels and Demons were the same species, only Demons had been cast down out of heaven for their betrayal and disloyalty.

I quickly cleared my head of the thought, remembering why I myself hated the Angels in the first place "So what if we're alike?" I asked "If you have a good reason to hate something, then it doesn't matter how close to being the same you are, chances are, you're still going to hate it at the end of the day" I told him, turning to head back upstairs "How very true, Little Demon, how very, very true" he murmured as I left, entering the elevator and pushing the button for the twelfth floor in silence.

By the time I had gotten back with our drinks; which I bought on the twelfth floor, to Damien's unknowing mind, Valshe was in the waiting room by Damien and Forte, holding her bandaged palm in her lap. Forte must have cleaned it with peroxide and cauterized it, because I couldn't even smell a trace of blood like I'd been expecting to, and the bandage was thus perfectly white.

They all looked up as I entered and Forte motioned for us to follow him back to his office with a stiff nod, which we all followed obediently.

Shutting the door firmly behind him, Forte turned on us, slate grey eyes passing over each of us carefully before moving to sit in his chair and taking a deep breath "Well?" I began, smirking as Forte buried his face in his hands in exasperation "What is she?" I glanced at Valshe out of the corner of my eye and found that she was watching me intently, honey colored eyes full of light; a pointless sort of hope.

Shaking his head and peeking at me in annoyance from a gap in his fingers he spoke firmly "Give me a minute kid, I'm tired…sheesh" he pushed his slim, square glasses up to his forehead to rub his eyes irritably and gave a short yawn "Kid?" I laughed bitterly "You're only two years older than me and a half a year older than D" I commented as he pulled a paper out of the neat new file that laid on his desk and handed it to me tauntingly.

I looked down at the paper blankly, and glanced back up at him "You expect me to know what to look for on this crap?" I asked, handing it back to him grudgingly "Oh, right…that means I have to explain it then" he stood up and spread his hands apart, a thin black line appearing between them, which he easily spread into a screen about the size of his torso, and tapped it once.

Instantly, the screen lit up, showing what was on Valshe's tests in perfect similarity to the papers he held. "As you can see, her blood levels are that of a human, but what I can't understand is what this list shows here" he circled a small portion of the screen with a lean finger "Her blood has an extra substance in it, neither hurting her, nor helping her, and seems to be dormant for the moment…Ah," he shook his finger when I opened my mouth in protest "She is however, not a half Demon, the substance found in her blood is actually lethal to us, like a virus…but when I compared it to the blood of the Angels and Nephilim, it reacted much the same way..." he tapped the screen once more and it closed, dispersing into particles of darkness that eventually evaporated into nothingness.

Damien and I shared an eye roll and I closed my eyes disdainfully "So bottom line is…you have no clue what she is?" Damien groaned, shaking his head "Couldn't you have just said that in the first place instead of making us listen to all that sciency crap? How boring" he sighed, leaning back in surprise when Forte shook a finger in his face "It is not boring" he insisted, allowing Damien to right himself in his chair. I laughed as they argued back and forth over the subject, looked over at Valshe and immediately quieted.

She sat silently in her chair, gazing at her hands sadly "What's up?" I whispered, scooting closer to her and leaning back contently in my chair "Nothing" she replied hastily "Just tired is all" she looked up at me with eyes that could barely hide her disappointment before Forte cleared his throat. I looked to Damien, who was looking at the door hopefully; he obviously wanted to go as much as Valshe and I did, and then to Forte once more.

"Anything else before I can go home and eat something?" he asked us snidely, watching as each of us shook our heads blankly "Great, then get out" he yelled, herding us through the door and into the empty hallway before slamming the door loudly. "Freak" Damien muttered teasingly under his breath, I chuckled in response and we rushed back to our room in relief.

By the time we'd gotten back to our floor, it was only about two hours to sunrise, and it was obvious that everyone was tired and cranky. I realized that because the only other option was to let Valshe sleep in the same room as D, which wasn't really an option at all, I had to be the gentleman, and reluctantly offered her my room for the night, which she graciously accepted and retreated into, locking the door behind her. Damien had crashed on his bed almost as soon as we'd walked in the door, and was splayed out on his bed, blanket covering him up to his chin, his shoes poking out from under it. Sighing, I moved towards him and removed them, careful not to get kicked and dropped them at the foot of his bed, rolling my eyes at how much like a child he sometimes was.

Heading next for the closet where we kept our towels, blankets, and pillows, I numbly grabbed an old pillow, thinly stuffed with down, and two of our thinner blankets before tugging my shirt off, retreating to the couch and flopping down in exhaustion.

I don't think I'd ever been able to fall asleep so fast before.

I sat at the worn oak kitchen table, nibbling mindlessly at a piece of toast and warm, gooey peanut butter while picking through the newspaper for the comics section, dirtying the pages with my small, sticky hands. I didn't even glance up when I heard the heavy footsteps pound through the living room and into the dining room where I was until I felt a large presence looming behind me. Turning slightly, I looked up at the gigantic man standing behind me in a black vest, the sleeves ripped off so that his muscled, tattooed arms hung bare at his sides.

Dark sunglasses covered his eyes, he wore a red New York baseball cap backwards on the top of his shaved head, and twin scars ran from the corners of his lips, like an extension of his mouth, to his earlobes, where a large diamond stud shone brightly.

I turned fully around and stared up at him, sending bread crumbs falling onto the newly cleaned tile floor, I didn't say anything, and neither did he for a moment. I could feel his eyes running me up and down, before finally his deep voice vibrated through the room "Where's your father kid?" he asked, moving his sunglasses so they rested on his cap.

Shrugging, I jumped down from my chair and walked to the door leading to the basement "Maybe downstairs" I replied, feeling tiny as he pushed past me, breaking the door open and stomping down the stairs heavily. I stared into the darkness of the basement in curiosity, before returning to the kitchen table, where I sat back down and waited for him to come out again.

For a while all I heard was my father and the man yelling at each other, a lot of loud crashes and fluent swearing, and finally they emerged from the basement, my father glaring at the man from behind, the man walking before him giving a smug smile, holding two or three brown paper bags in his fists "Give a little more warning next time you come around here, got it Saurian?" my father hissed fluidly, walking with him to the door. I heard the man apparently named Saurian laugh darkly "Of course Costello, next time" he laughed again, and I heard the door open and shut with a satisfying slam.

When my father came back to the kitchen he didn't even notice me, as usual "Dad? Who was that?" I asked shyly, jumping down to stand by him once more "His name is Dalton Saurian, he's a client of mine" my father told me emotionlessly "Oh," I replied quietly, shrinking back a little.

My father noticed and turned on me fiercely "When are you going to grow up Xander? You're almost eight years old and you act like a cowardly little dog!" he barked, advancing on me until my back hit the wall near the stairs "A low, cowardly, dog!" he reached for me, his large hand clamping around my forearm tightly, until I cried out in pain.

His blood shot eyes bulged slightly, and his face was reddening "You know how it is in this world Xander! If you're weak, no one will hesitate to rip you apart! You know that don't you? Don't you?" he was screaming now, shaking my arm furiously while I cried helplessly, pulling weakly to get my arm away from him. He dropped me suddenly, eyes widening when he saw the still raising hand print on my arm, crescent shapes bleeding from where his nails had bitten in, then looking in shock at my red, tear stained face and falling to his knees in front of me.

"X-Xander? I'm sorry, I just…oh my God…your arm is bleeding, come here" he coaxed me over, arms wide, but I backed away from him further, sliding along the wall until I felt the air rush out from around me and I fell backwards down the stairs, flipping around over and over again, before my father caught me about halfway down, scooping me up into his arms and running up the stairs to the bathroom where he sat me down on the counter.

I'd stopped crying, my eyes were dry and my head felt heavy, the rest of me was sore and felt rubbery "It's alright, it'll be alright…" my father whispered, pressing an ice pack into my hand "Can you hold this on your head?" he asked softly, and I nodded and put it on the back of my head, which I had hit hard when I'd fallen, while my father gently took my arm and poured peroxide on it, dabbing at it with a washcloth.

When we got out of the bathroom, I had a fresh white bandage wrapped around my arm, a few purpling bruises where I'd fallen, and was on medicine so I wasn't sore when I moved around.

We had gone to the back yard and threw a football around, my father patted my head when I caught the ball from long distances, and when I was able to throw the ball in a spiral, and he praised me as he usually did. My father was not a bad person; he couldn't help it when he slipped up like that, he was always sorry after he did it, and things went right back to how they always were. "Dad, I love you" I told him when we walked inside for lunch "I love you too son, more than anything else" he replied, lifting up my tiny frame and throwing me up in the air, causing me to grin happily before he put me back down and went to work making sandwiches.

Silently, I opened my eyes and sat up stiffly, rubbing my stinging eyes and stretching. My neck and back was somewhat sore from sleeping through the night on the old couch, and I envied Damien, who was still sleeping peacefully in his bed, he hadn't moved an inch since last night when he'd gone to sleep. I frowned and thoughtfully looked at my bare arm, rubbing at it where the scars had been after I'd healed, and thought about that day, smiling lightly to myself before looking at the clock on my cell phone. It read nine forty one, and I had a missed a call from Forte, but had no intentions of calling him back quite yet.

Getting up, I headed to my room, knocking lightly on the door before trying the knob, which was still locked "Valshe, I need to get in there, you up yet?" I called quietly, pressing my ear against the door. I could hear nothing behind the door, and figuring she was just a silent sleeper; I smirked, turning to the bathroom to get in the shower.

I shut the door behind me and opened the shower curtain, undressing and stepping in, turning the water on warm and sliding the curtain shut again. Just as I rinsed off one last time, I heard the door open and shut loudly and Damien yawn "You do realize that I'm in here don't you?" I asked him over the rush of water "Yeah, but that's too bad because I have to go to the bathroom" he replied snidely "Didn't sleep well? You're still crabby" I quipped and he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"I slept like a baby actually, but your little human friend woke me up…then again, she's making breakfast, so I suppose that isn't too terribly bad" he said thoughtfully, flushing the toilet and turning on the sink to wash his hands. I opened the curtain a little and looked at him "Breakfast?" I asked hopefully, and he turned around with a grin "Yep, pancakes and sausage and bacon and eggs," he listed off all of the food I could smell now that I had turned the water off, and I returned the grin "Great, I'm starving" I commented as he left and shut the door with a nod.

I stepped out of the bathroom, wearing a pair of fading black jeans and a baggy black tee shirt, my stomach rumbling loudly as I was bombarded with all the different smells. I sat down at the kitchen table with Damien as Valshe set the last plate down, full of steaming hot hash browns, and she barely had a moment to bid me good morning before Damien and I began to attack the food, shoveling it onto our plates like we hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Where did you get all of this?" I asked, mouth full of golden, fluffy, syrup coated pancakes "I…went out when I woke up" she answered, more like she was asking me, rather than telling me "How? You don't know how to get around here" Damien said, carelessly throwing eggs, sausage and ketchup on a toast sandwich. She smiled, looking proud of herself as she picked a handful of freshly cut fruits from a bowl in the center of the table "That guy from yesterday, Forte, helped me get back to Cali to buy some things when you two were still asleep" she continued, popping a perfect red strawberry into her mouth after careful inspection.

I gave her a look that asked if she was crazy and Damien suggested as much "And you actually went with him? Are you crazy?" he asked, laughing when she hesitantly shook her head "He was pretty nice to me" she replied, poking nervously at a chunk of syrupy pancake "Really? Maybe he likes you" I teased, waving my fork at her playfully "Ew." She laughed, sticking her tongue out and wrinkling her nose in mock disgust.

Being teenage boys and hard working demons on top of that, Damien and I cleared out all of the food, though Valshe only had a few things before announcing that she was full, and putting her plate, silverware and cup in the sink.

After we had done the dishes and put everything away, Valshe spun to face Damien and I, now lounging across the room from each other on the couch and armchair "How is it that guys can eat so much, and stay so skinny?" she asked, looking at the pile of now cleaned dishes that the two of us had gone through. Damien laughed in amusement "We're active" he replied, bouncing a tennis ball over the foot stool, which I easily caught, and returned "Usually we don't eat too much; we're too busy" I told her, catching the ball once more "Girls are just as active as boys" she returned, intercepting the ball and bouncing it a few times before sitting next to Damien on the couch and giving it to him.

Damien looked over at me in confusion; Valshe didn't seem to like him too much, so it was odd she'd sit next to him, and I shrugged in equal wonder, and let my head loll against the head rest of the armchair.

The door banged open and Forte stepped through, slightly red in the face, glaring at us "What have you two been doing? I must've called you each ten times in the past hour and a half" he fumed, stomping over to where we all sat and crossed his arms over his chest "How did you even get in here?" Damien asked, looking up at him with disinterest "Never mind that, we have an emergency down on the prison floor" he fumed, sliding his phone open and giving it to Damien, both me and Valshe moving to look at it over his shoulder. On the screen, there was a picture of a group of Nephilim, brandishing their celestial weaponry, moving to the first row of prison cells "Who let them in?" Damien demanded, shoving himself up and pushing the phone back at Forte, who took it and slid it into his back pocket.

"We don't know yet, but we have more prisoners in this facility than we do warriors, so if they succeed, we'll be brought down along with the building!" he yelled, turning to leave, and pulling out his Oni "Now get your butts in gear!" he ordered, whipping it down and out, causing it to form a sinister looking bow, and quickly summoning up an arrow before dashing out the door, which slammed shut behind him.

Damien ran over to his bed and snagged his Oni off the top of his bedside table, jamming his feet into his shoes "Come on!" he glared at me, and I ran into my room, grabbing a few blades of my own, and after hesitating for a moment, my own Oni out of the beat up steel box I kept it in.

I moved back into the living room, where Damien paced impatiently, and Valshe was clasping her hands together, her sun kissed skin pale, and her eyes closed, as if in prayer "Let's go!" Damien yelled, heading out the door with me trailing after him "Wait!" Valshe called, and we both stopped, turning back to her with shared looks of urgency "Let me go too" she pleaded, eyes shining "Why? Humans can't use Ethereal weapons" Damien said, glancing wearily out the door "I can help though! Forte said I wasn't a human remember? I can try!" she cried, hands fisted stubbornly at her sides.

I groaned and ran back to my room "Come with me" I growled, running back to my room with Valshe hot on my heels, and I could sense her excitement as I threw open my closet door again "Grab one" I ordered, stepping aside and motioning harshly for her to grab one of the many weapons Damien and I kept there.

She looked frantically through them, then looked at me helplessly "What do I pick?" she asked fearfully "Does it matter? Hurry up!" I stepped beside her, and handed her a double bladed feather staff "Can you use this?" I asked, holding it out to her "I don't know!" she replied, shaking her head. "What about these?" I pulled out a pair of short twin blades, about as long as her fore arms and spiked up the blade side "I've never used a weapon before!" she finally admitted in panic, and shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot "What?" I hissed, practically dropping one blade into my foot, the clang of metal apparently scaring her enough to make her jump "I've never had to!" she yelled defensively.

Growling in annoyance, I grabbed the holster for the twin blades and roughly sheathed them, then grabbed the feather staff and shoved them both at her "If things get too rough for you, just get out of the way" I murmured quietly, and stalked back to Damien, who was conjuring up a green flame in his hands, pressing it together so it died, and then starting over again.

He looked up when we approached, his face hard-set, and took out his Oni as well "Took you long enough" he commented, turning to lead the way down the panic ridden hallway.

We lived on floor seven, and we knew that the elevator would've been shut off long ago, in hopes of slowing down the intruders, so we had to run up four flights of stairs before we would get where we should've been. Our trio swung through the open door, weaving around the mobs of non-warrior Demons that were too afraid to fight, and Valshe was already starting to slow down; she didn't have the training that we had, and because of that, was barely jogging when we reached the third flight of stairs.

Just as we passed the door leading to the eleventh floor stairs, we heard screaming, and spun fast back down the stairs, Valshe making it through the door first, followed by me, then Damien in the back.

In the hall were about four young Demons, probably just Awakened, cowering behind an older Demon, all of which were surrounded by a group of ten or so Nephilim boys, probably about the same age as Damien, all holding their celestial blades, with grins that were almost feral. The older Demon parried the blows of the first boys that went after him, but two boys; twins at that, rushed him from both sides, one knocking the sword out of his hand, while the other separated him from the children, grinning wildly "Repent your sins Demon, and maybe you will be saved" said the twin that was now standing between him and the kids.

The other boy, looking to be the younger twin turned away from the scuffle and glanced over at us, having just appeared in the door and running towards them "Leave him Rey, we have company" he said silkily. The boy named Rey turned to face us, a scowl plastered on his face "Ugh, more? Why can't they just give up and accept divine mercy?" he gave a short, humorless laugh, and began towards us.

Beside me, Damien scoffed and shook his head "Divine mercy you say? How about a Holy punishment?" he asked, readying his Oni and holding it lightly in his hands, red orb pulsing steadily; Damien was channeling his energy into it. The younger twin moved with his brother, exactly mirroring each others movements as they drew blades that looked more like lightning, jagged and glowing with a deadly bluish light.

"Pitiful Demons" he said, stopping when he was close enough for Damien to be able to brush the tip of his spear against his chest "You've stooped so low as to kidnapping humans to fight with you? And such a beautiful young girl at that" he shook his head, his voice sounding smooth as the waters face before a huge storm; beautiful, and deadly.

Valshe shifted uncomfortably in her place by the door, the feather staff rested awkwardly against her shoulder "Don't you notice though? She's not a human" I replied, pulling out one of the two swords I'd stuffed into the double sheath and dropping into a fighting position, blade level with his throat "She's hardly a Demon though, she's much too innocent for that…she's obviously better suited to be one of our kind" he shot back icily, then looked at Valshe "Why would you side with the Demons little one? Have you not realized that they are only using you?" he asked, holding his hand out to her; she shied away immediately.

"They're nice to me" she replied quietly, then straightened up, trying to look more confident than she probably felt "Who are you anyways?" she demanded, readjusting the feather staff so it stood between the two.

The boy's lips pressed into a thin line, and he looked at her as if he didn't quite know how to handle the question "I'm Nathaniel Harlow, but most people call me Nate…and this is my older brother, Rey Harlow" he replied, glancing at me and Damien out of the corners of his eyes. Valshe nodded, apparently satisfied and bit her lip nervously "Are you going to kill them?" she gestured to the group of Demons behind them, they had the older Demon restrained and the children were all crying and calling for help "Not if they comply with us" Rey replied, his voice was slightly deeper than Nate's was, and obviously fiercer; if you could kill someone with words, his voice had an edge sharp enough for it to be considered slaughter.

Nate took a step closer and nudged Rey with his elbow "You want us to spare them?" he asked, holding his hand up to hold back the other Nephilim that stood behind him "I would" Valshe whispered, peering around the two to the armed group that was watching them with carefully scrutinizing eyes "Then, just for you human, we will" Nate turned and waved the group away, a few hesitated before moving to another door, leading downstairs, leaving just Nate and Rey with us. Damien laughed menacingly "Rooky mistake, Nephil scum" he spat, moving to lunge quickly at Rey, who stood closest to us, and whom dodged it as if he'd been given hours to move aside, before he made an attack of his own, parried by Damien, who grinned in sudden interest "This should be good" he commented, and moved quicker, his wings sprouting from his back.

Normally, Nephilim didn't have wings since they weren't full Ethereals, but apparently Rey did, as his too, sheer white with streaks of slate grey, burst through slits cut in his clothing, and the fight turned into more of a dance, swift and graceful, the only sound was the weaponry singing as they cut through the air with deathly intent, and collided with the metal of the other, hungry for first blood.

I stepped back in unison with Valshe and Nate, who shook his head in a mocking fashion, his short chocolate brown hair falling to cover his eyes slightly as it did so "You never could resist a good fight could you, brother?" he called, and we all heard the agreeing laugh in response. I moved towards Nate, and lifted my sword "Well, why don't we join them?" I suggested, watching his amber colored eyes light up just the tiniest bit "Fine by me" he replied, preparing himself and smiling as his wings rose from between his shoulder blades, raising a little over the top of his head and falling to his waist, the same as his brothers, only instead of having streaks in them, they were a perfectly iridescent white.

He leapt into the air and I did the same, letting my own wings unfurl behind me, and we began, clashing heavily against each other. I felt the vertigo as I narrowly dodged the first swing, dropping near the ground and streaming behind him to get on the offence, but he was just barely faster than me, and met me with a painful kick that connected soundly with my injured shoulder.

"What's the matter? You aren't holding back are you?" he yelled to me as I gave a quiet yelp and caught myself "Not anymore" I shot back venomously and swung at him, he blocked it and I pressed hard, using both hands until the edge of his blade kissed his cheek, leaving a paper thin cut, and he pulled away abruptly, causing me to lose balance for a split second. He took his chance and rushed me, I twisted, relief flooded over me when his blade just nicked the side of my rib cage, but it was short lived as he drove me hard into the floor, which I felt cracking under me at impact. I gasped as the air was knocked out of me, but rolled over so he was pinned and knocked his sword away from him, sending it clattering loudly across the floor.

Lifting my own sword, I aimed for his heart, when a blinding force to my head sent me sprawling against the cold ground once more. I looked up, and found that Rey had broken away from his battle with Damien to protect his brother, who was getting to his feet and looking around for his sword, finally settling on Valshe, who held it along with the feather staff, and he ran towards her to retrieve it. I pushed myself to my feet and launched towards her, but he reached her first, holding his hand out as if he actually expected her to give it back.

Valshe shook her head firmly and took a cautious step back, clutching the now normal looking sword to her chest "It's hardly fair that I spared those Demons for you and you take my sword in the midst of a battle" he told her, his face maddeningly calm. Nate reached out to take it back from her and she brought it over her head, prepared to swing "Fine, if it's going to be that way" he shrugged, turning away from her, and she dropped the sword and ran towards him, swinging the lighter feather staff with all her strength.

He gave a sharp cry of pain as it sliced between his wings, leaving a trail of scarlet in its wake "Better?" he asked, turning as a shimmering light encased him; he was healing himself. Valshe panted lightly; giving a tremble as he rested a hand on her tiny shoulder "That was a pretty good swing" he gave her a smile and stepped around her, picking up his sword that lay just a few feet behind them, Valshe turned as he did so, watching him like a hawk.

A/N: I just noticed as I was re-editing this chapter that the whole beginning of this story is kinda rocky, huh? I hope you will all forgive the difficulties I have with starting stories -bows- and will continue reading anyways! Until next time, please review and try not to play Ninja too intensely...I learned that one the hard way -.-'


	3. Where is She?

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance (though really not until later chapters unless you count Damien and his playboyness...)/Action

Rating: T; not changing that one anytime soon

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in the story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

"Rey, should we go upstairs now? And since it seems as though we won't be able to lose you guys, feel free to come along" Nate turned to look at Damien and I like we were a new species of Under Dweller, then to Valshe with a kind smile before heading over to the door, followed by Rey, who glanced at us over his shoulder "Don't even think about trying anything maggots" he threatened, and was gone.

Exchanging wary glances, we followed at a distance, reaching the eleventh floor with ease; to find that it was empty in the first hall, save for the Angel that stood at the midpoint; the same one I had talked to only the day before.

"Hey there teach," Rey raised a hand in greeting, sheathing his sword as the Angel nodded approvingly at him "How long have you been waiting?" Nate asked as they reached him; we stopped a few feet away "Not very long…well, well, it's rather interesting to see a familiar face in these circumstances" the Angel addressed me casually, strolling confidently towards us "It's odd how out of all of the Demons I could have run into, it was you, Little Demon" he smiled warmly at me, and I couldn't help but be taken aback.

Damien looked from me to the Angel with a cold glare "You know him Xander?" he inquired, turning on me fiercely "Yesterday, when I went to get drinks, I went to the wrong floor and was curious…he started talking to me" I mumbled, looking up at Damien to measure his feelings on it "We aren't even allowed on this floor, you could've been put in one of those cells if you were caught!" he yelled, glaring at me with white rage "I know, Damien…calm down, I wasn't here for long" I gave him a pleading look, which he didn't seem to notice "I would've lost you again…" he muttered, so quietly that I barely heard him, and glared up at the Angel viciously.

"Why would you even think to speak to him, Angel?" he demanded, swinging his Oni in blind rage, the Angel made no effort to move away from the blow, but took it with a straight face "I didn't mean to endanger him" the Angel replied, honest regret giving his voice a dark undertone "Whatever…" Damien grumbled, his body so still that he could've been considered a statue by a passerby.

Valshe, who hadn't spoken in a long time, coughed quietly "I don't see why you guys can't just kiss and make up already, I mean, you've been wrapped in some eternal battle for how many millennia and you still aren't over it? That's a bit steep don't you think?" she stepped between our groups, and Damien relaxed when she rested her hand on the pulsing red orb, letting it drop limply to his side.

The Angel smiled and opened his arms wide "How interesting, I didn't expect to see a human here…and yes, young one, that's actually what me and your friend, Xander, was it? Were discussing just yesterday" he smiled, well, angelically and his iridescent wings glittered as they caught a stray beam of light. "We have to get going" Rey said from his position by the stair well "I can hear more Demons heading up here" he jogged over to Nate, nodded at him, and they both turned to leave "Not a chance" Damien snarled, gliding effortlessly around them and sinking low to attack position "You don't really hope to defeat an Avenging Angel, do you?" the way the Angel said it showed that he wasn't being smug, but simply stating facts; Damien couldn't take him down.

Biting my lip hard enough to draw blood, I moved to stand beside Damien, but Rey and Nate blocked my path, their faces masked with fierce determination. "Mr. Ravi, stand down" a woman ordered, and Damien obeyed, bowing formally towards her.

Already figuring I knew who it was, I turned, hoping that I'd be wrong, but was unpleasantly surprised when I was face to face with Mistress Haruka, the higher up that Damien had to answer to, she was one of the coldest, most violent Demons that lived in the Under World, and for a good reason.

Her long platinum blonde hair was- despite the fact that she'd obviously been fighting- looked like she'd just finished styling it, held in a jet black ponytail that fell in a smooth waterfall down to her waist, where it curved lightly in on itself.

She was dressed in a tight black tank top that showed off her cleavage, black cargo pants that hung lightly from her curved hips, and black high heeled combat boots that were caked with different fluids on the bottoms. Scanning the scene with eyes the color of freshly drawn blood, she stepped forward confidently, her boots stomping loudly on the cracking tiled floor "Avenging Angel Malachi, you should have known better than to plan an escape" she said, her voice dripping with malice "I don't believe we have quarrel with each other Haruka…we used to be on the same side you know" Malachi answered warmly, his face yet again had a kind smile on it.

At this, Mistress Haruka snarled something incomprehensible and dove at Malachi, swinging at his throat with one of her prized electrum knives, just barely catching and tearing the thin cloth of his brown prisoner's shirt with deadly intent as Malachi soared gracefully into the air "I won't fight an old comrade Haruka, even if they've changed sides…" he said, and motioned towards the twins, who joined him on either side.

Behind us we heard Mistress Haruka gasp, and Damien and I spun around to find her face a mask of horror "How dare you bring that up!" she yelled, running towards him and jumping to attack, but to no avail; she couldn't reach. Malachi laughed and looked down at her "I don't see why you're so ashamed of your own past…Arc Angel Haruka" with this he turned, and began to drift down the hallway "Come boys, tonight we return home" he addressed Nate and Rey, who hesitated "But…is it wise to leave them alive? They'll just capture more of us" Nate quipped, but allowed himself to be pulled along with his brother "It matters not. They now know that we Angels will no longer stand for these obscenities...now come" he ordered quietly, and they continued down the hall into the darkness until we could no longer see them.

Our large group, which was steadily getting larger, didn't move or speak for a long while, until Mistress Haruka finally slammed a fist hard into the wall "What are you all waiting for? Bring them back! Don't kill them though…I want to do that myself" and with that she turned and left, and as the door to the stairwell shut with a bang, the hallway exploded into murmurs and movement, Demons everywhere moving to begin the chase and spread the latest chunk of gossip.

As Damien and I started over with the crowd, we heard a smaller group of Demons whispering to each other as they headed out "Did you hear what that Angel said? About Mistress Haruka being an Arc Angel?" one of them whispered to the others, who looked shocked "I always knew there was something about her…" another replied "That must be why she has no wings, how horrid!" yet another added.

I shook my head and turned to Damien, who rolled his eyes dramatically "Hey…did you see where Valshe went?" I asked, suddenly aware of the fact that she was no longer trailing us "Maybe she went back…she knows we have to go fight, and she can't even chase after them" Damien replied, shrugging nonchalantly. She should be easy enough to find, I thought as I floated closer to the ceiling, after all, there were few to no Demons with silver hair.

Looking down on the crowd, I scanned the heads of each and every Demon in the room until the hall was almost empty again and was unable to find her. Drifting back to the ground, I shook my head at Damien, who frowned in response "What are you two doing? Didn't you hear Mistress Haruka?" a familiar voice inquired from behind "Well, we could ask you the same thing Forte" Damien scoffed as we turned to face his blood splattered form.

Forte smirked in response to this "I don't have to go" he replied casually "Where's the little lady?" he asked, turning to glance around the now empty hallway "We don't know, we were just looking for her" I answered, as he nodded. "That's odd, according to the higher-up's everyone's supposed to be on the seventh floor right now, and she wasn't there when I took role so I assumed she was with you" he shrugged and turned to leave "Go do your jobs though; she'll turn up somewhere" he added and left as silently as he had come.

After a few minutes of me figuring out what to do about Valshe, Damien got fed up and headed out by himself, which sent me scurrying to catch up with him.

I caught him fast enough, since he'd landed nearby claiming he'd seen something weird go into the small cavern about a yard off. We knew we had to search it; with Angels around, we had to check everything out of place, and even things that weren't so we could flush them all out "Did you really see something?" I asked as we entered and our footsteps echoed on the damp stone at our feet and into the cave before us.

He simply nodded and peeked around the corner before motioning for me to join him "Get ready" he whispered, and took out a sleek black sword, pointing at a dark haired, white winged figure standing a ways away from us, discussing something with another figure, leaning soundlessly against the wall.

We approached silently, using as much cover as we could, and pressed close as we could against the cold stone wall that left us but feet from the other figure leaning against the other side of it. They had stopped talking for the moment and all was silent, making us believe that we'd been noticed; however we were pleasantly relieved when they resumed their conversation. The voice that spoke first was immediately recognizable; it was Nate's and he sounded none too pleased "Are you sure you're alright? No one's noticed us here yet, so you could rest a little longer…teacher said he'd summon up a Path for us as soon as he got back to Heaven, and he's probably almost there by now" his voice full of worry and persuasion.

Beside me, Damien tensed up, obviously wanting to strike before they had any longer to realize we were there, but I gripped his forearm tightly and he seemed to settle a bit. "We're always left behind though…it's not that bad, and the Demons are probably all still on Malachi's tail, so we'd pretty much have a green card to get through" Rey sounded pained, and I had to resist shifting my position to look at him, as it would put me in Nate's direct line of sight. I heard Nate sigh and mumble something I couldn't quite hear and then footsteps moving closer to where we were "The only reason we're the last ones around is because you're probably the most blood thirsty Angel that ever lived…besides Rey, you're all I have…if you die, what am I supposed to do? It's not like I have anyone else…" Nate whimpered and I heard the rustle of clothing and something like a tap.

I gave Damien a questioning look and he reached up and patted my shoulder awkwardly before motioning to them, indicating that it was what was currently happening. "Like I'd die by the hand of a wimpy little Demon…don't worry about it Nate" Rey replied, and I heard Nate scoff in response "You aren't indestructible you know" he shot back weakly "I know…I never said I was" was all he was able to come back with.

Not wanting to sit down in case we were found, we were stuck in an uncomfortable position that made it look like we were sitting on the air, and after twenty minutes total of staying like that, my legs were starting to give out on me.

I glanced at Damien, who looked as if he could stay like that forever, and became exasperated with my dead weight human genes. The twins had mostly gone silent save for Nate occasionally asking Rey if he was alright and Rey grunting in an annoyed response, and when the inevitable happened and my foot slipped from it's uncomfortable position, it sounded through the cavern like a gunshot through a city street. Damien stared at me as if I had just dove into a pit of lava and lived, and the twins had jumped back in shock, were moving around the tiny expanse of wall, and would see us in only seconds.

Slightly panicked, I launched myself into the air and whipped my sword through the air where Rey had appeared and was staring up at us, and just as it was about to strike…Nate caught it, having snuck around the other side and taking us both by surprise, flinging it back effortlessly. I slipped to the side just as it zipped past my neck and burrowed itself up to the hilt in the rock behind us "It figures that you two would find us" he called up to us casually, moving to step in front of his brother protectively "You aren't exactly the stealthiest Angels in existence you know" Damien replied venomously, which was countered by an equally poisonous glare from Rey, who had moved around Nate, despite his pleading stare.

My eyes widened as I got a good look at him, all covered in blood and gore, with a sizable laceration slicing the right side of his shirt to ribbons, the wound still spilling the red stuff all over himself and the cavern floor "I'm not really in much of a condition to play with you guys at the moment, so why don't you come back a little later?" he growled fiercely before bending over and swearing in pain "Rey!" Nate exclaimed, moving to help right him, but was swiftly brushed aside. Damien laughed mirthfully and drifted back to the ground "To play with us? Ha! You don't even look like you could lift a weapon in that condition!" he continued to laugh as Rey straightened stiffly and I realized what had probably happened.

Joining them on the ground I cleared my throat and they all looked at me as if forgetting I was even there "They got you with one of those arrows didn't they?" I asked, earning me a surprised widening of eyes from the twins. "So?" Rey shot back, having recovered faster than his younger brother "Why didn't you die? That looks pretty bad" I continued as both of their faces became emotionless, tightly masked by the blank looks they wore "I can't tell you that Demon" he murmured, and turned his head slightly as a whooshing sound whipped through the cave and a swirling white-grey portal appeared between our two groups.

Rey stepped through without a moment's hesitation, Nate following with a glance over his shoulder at us. 'Are you coming?' asked his eyes right before he stepped through and left us staring after them in shock. Damien glared at me for a while before shoving me through the Portal and stepping in after me, both of us moving further into the blank space until our vision went completely white.

I sat up swiftly, swiveling to look around and found myself wrapped in a thin blanket on the thread bare tan colored couch in my living room. I had been awoken by the sound of barely concealed sobbing, and pushed my tiny frame up gingerly; I was still sore from the beating I had taken the previous night by my father. I tip toed up the stairs and headed down the hall, to where my father's bedroom lay and stared for a while. The crying was definitely coming from his room, but I couldn't decide on whether or not it would be a good idea to enter. I decided against it.

I headed downstairs to go back to sleep when the bedroom door upstairs opened with a loud bang and a crack; it had been broken off the hinges and then footsteps were stomping down the stairs hurriedly. Burying myself under the covers and laying as still as I could, I hoped that he'd leave me alone if I could convincingly pretend to be asleep, but was obviously wrong as I was yanked up by the collar of my shirt and thrown to the hardwood floors that made up the living room.

"Wake up! Why aren't you out of bed yet you useless child?" he yelled, stomping over to where I lay groaning and kicking my chest for good measure. Stifling a yelp, I brought myself to a standing position, knowing that if I just took it, it would end much faster "How dare you look so much like her? You didn't even know her and you dare stay around here looking exactly like her?" he yelled, and pushed me over again, grabbing a vase from the coffee table beside him and hurling it at my back.

It smashed in the space between my shoulder blades and I felt some of the sharp ceramic bits pierce my overtly scarred skin while the rest rained down over me and the usually clean floor. Suddenly, the front door opened and Saurian stepped through the door way with two other men whom I'd come to know as Night and Darren, both Darren and Saurian having to duck to get their tall muscular frames through the doorway. All three of them stopped and took in the scene before them "Hey, Costello" Night called, but it seemed as if my father didn't hear, as he had begun to advance on me again "Just let 'im be Lane" Darren ordered gruffly, straightening up to appear more menacing, yet again to no avail and he brought his leg back for another kick.

I had closed my eyes by this time, but I heard my father gasp and grunt in struggle and opened my eyes to see Saurian holding my father under the arms as he kicked and pulled against him. "Calm yourself Costello, he's not even worth it" he growled deeply, and let my father pull away from him "Fine…you're right…" he replied and lead them to the basement, turning his back on me and leaving me laying there bleeding while Night and Darren laughed about how feeble I was before following Saurian and my father to the basement.

Sniffling quietly, I pushed myself up and moved to the bathroom to clean myself up as best I could. My father was always like this during this week of every year, because this was the week my mother had died…or more specifically yesterday, giving birth to me.

There were no pictures of her around the house; my father had burned them all for some reason or another, and the picture I kept hidden in my room that I had gotten from my grandmother before she'd died was apparently the only one left.

Sitting in my bed and staring at it as I tried in complete frustration to wipe the stubborn tears from my cheeks, I remembered finding my father in the basement just the morning before, how he had been smoking some weird white powder and had seemed fine before that. Once I had thought he'd left the house, I had gone back downstairs, where various bags and jars sat on his workbench and on numerous shelves hanging on the walls and noted how it reeked of something I'd never smelled before to look for one of the white labeled paper lunch bags he kept it in, and when I found it sitting right out in the open on his work desk, curiosity got the best of me.

No sooner had I really gotten to look at it, was I picked up, thrown over my fathers strong shoulder, knocking the wind out of me, carried upstairs and had the 'curiosity' beaten out of me. When he finally left me alone, and I curled up on the couch with the blanket, I thought back to what I'd seen in the basement. 'Pot' was all it had said, in my fathers neat upper case writing, but I knew it must've been mislabeled, after all, I knew that neither the brown bag, nor the white powder inside was even remotely related to a pot.

I gasped and flung myself up, dizzy from having just woken up, and my head promptly collided with something.

Hard.

Rubbing my forehead and spilling strings of curses, I opened my blurry eyes and found myself staring into an equally surprised pair of honey colored orbs. "You're awake! I thought you'd never wake up!" Valshe cried, her eyes holding more relief than I felt was necessary. I nodded and continued to rub my sore head "What happened?" I asked, looking around, before whipping back around to face her "Wait! Where were you? What happened to D? And those Nephilim twins…" I allowed my voice to trail off as Malachi stepped into the room, dressed in a white button down shirt and perfectly pressed black dress pants.

He smiled when he got a good look at me and I slid up against the wall as he advanced on me "Calm yourself Little Demon, you are safe here" he told me, holding out a cup of what appeared to be water. I reluctantly took it, and even though my throat felt as if I had just eaten a sandbox, I didn't drink it, but set it down on the bedside table next to me and stared up at him cautiously.

Annoyingly enough, he was still smiling at me, as if he were actually glad to see me "How are you feeling?" he asked, sitting down beside me on the plush bed "Fine" I replied impatiently moving away from him and turning to instead look out the window at the clear blue sky and silvery gold clouds of Heaven. Clearing his throat Malachi stood up and moved to block my view "I know you do not trust me, and I understand this, but there are things we must discuss" he said, his voice almost sounded pleading for a split second.

"And why should I?" I inquired, meeting his warm gaze with an icy glare "Because I am answering questions you yourself asked" he replied silkily "Now please comply" he took the glass off the bedside table where I had left it and held it out to me once more. I turned away again, continuing to glare and he shook his head in exasperation "It's only water little one, and you haven't drank anything in quite a long time" he offered it again, and after a look at Valshe, who nodded, I rolled my eyes and took it, drinking it a bit more thankfully than I would have liked.

It tasted wonderful, and my face must've showed it because Malachi laughed and turned to Valshe "Can you get him another Miss Marina?" he asked, and Valshe nodded, taking my glass and quickly exiting the room.

Once the door had been shut, Malachi began to speak, catching me off guard "Huh?" I quipped, and he laughed again "I was just inquiring what it was you had asked earlier" he replied, smirking in a fashion that reminded me of Damien. "Where's D?" my eyes widened and I frantically looked around the room once more "He is in the next room, but hasn't yet awoken…I'm afraid using the Path took more out of him, a True Blood Demon, than you, a Black Blood Demon" he answered quietly as Valshe re-entered the room with the water and left after announcing that she was going to go make sure Damien was alright.

I sighed, and rested my face in my hands "What happened? Where are your so-called 'students'?" I mumbled through partially separated fingers "You tried to follow Nathaniel and Rey through a Path, and were rendered unconscious by the wards inside it, then as you lay at the front door of the Judgment Hall, where Nate and Rey waited beside you until I arrived, I was able to convince my brethren to allow you and your friend life for the time being…I'll let you go though Little Demon, worry not" he assured me as I shrank to a defensive position.

The room was silent for a while after that; I didn't want to talk to him, and he was waiting for me to ask something else, which I didn't for a long while. "That's great and all…but why is Valshe here? She did nothing wrong" I whispered, suddenly very tired "She did not" he agreed, nodding his head slowly "However, we Angels are intrigued by her as well…a human, fully in tune with the world of Ethereals? It's unheard of. So we have been running a few exams of our own on her…with her consent of course" he added when I opened my mouth to argue "She willingly came with us" he told me, as I clenched and unclenched my fists.

It figured…humans always complied with the Angels; they were the 'Good Guys' that protected them from the darkness of their realm. I shook my head to rid myself of the sleep that pulled at me even though I was sitting up "Get some more sleep Little Demon, you are still weak from your trip through the Path and the wards around Heaven, but when you wake up you should feel fine" he cooed, and stood up, leaving the room with little more sound than the door clicking shut behind him.

A/N: Thanks to Faded Innocence for my very first review! I went back and spaced it a little bit better for you, and I'm greatful to hear that you like my story so far! It really means a lot!

This story is really getting long, but theres no way I'm going to end it where it is...I'd feel like a failure XP I think RL is really starting to suck away my motivation, so I need to find some more. Any of you guys feel like borrowing me some? Please? Until next time, please review and make sure you hide your motivation from the RL...it can and will eat it!


	4. Discovery

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

I lay on my bed; blankets pulled tightly around me while my father sat beside me, stroking my head and telling me the most amazing stories of my mother until I was finally able to fall asleep.

I didn't know how long I had slept, but when I reopened my eyes it was pitch dark in the room, save for the sliver of moonlight slinking through a crack in the curtains.

I sat up stiffly and rubbed the back of my throat, which was dry again, and found a pitcher of ice water and an empty glass on the bedside table. I had drank two full glasses before someone else in the room cleared their throat and I automatically grabbed for a weapon in my belt, which had been removed, and spun around to look for the source of the noise. Sitting in a chair leaning against the white and gold wall, was Nate, watching me intently "How are you?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned "Where's Valshe?" I inquired, ignoring his question. He sighed deeply and pointed at the wall behind him "Next door…sleeping probably, and the other Demon is in that room over there" he pointed at the wall opposite him.

Nodding, I moved over to the window and threw the curtains open, so the room was awash in a dim silver glow "I feel better" I told him, in answer to his question and turned back to face him. For a moment I thought he had fallen asleep, his eyes were closed, and he looked completely relaxed "That's a relief…Valshe was worried about you" he informed me after a long silence then stood up and moved towards the door. "Come on" he called over his shoulder as he exited the room like a shadow.

As much as I hated the idea of following a Nephilim into unknown territories, I did, and met Nate in a huge lavish room, with a fireplace almost as tall as Valshe and as wide as one of the cafeteria tables back at the base with an elegant mantle carved in swirling designs of gold and bronze. I could tell my eyes were wide as I turned around and around, trying unsuccessfully to take in the brilliance of the room "Cool huh? I've lived here for seven years and I'm still not used to it" Nate mused, smirking at my childishness. "It's probably not the best idea to discuss this in this place…walls have ears and all that" he explained when I gave him a questioning look "So I thought we could take a walk?" he suggested "That's fine" I replied and followed behind him as he smiled graciously and opened a large door, revealing the courtyard beyond it.

The courtyard, much like the room we had just left, was unnecessarily large, extravagantly decorated, and well kept. Walking out of the shining bronze gates and onto a damp cobblestone path leading towards a glimmering lakebed I took a deep breath; I had never breathed cleaner air. "I assume you've heard about how Angels and Nephilim can form Pacts with each other right?" he turned his head a bit and waited for my response.

I shrugged "I never really paid much attention in class, Nephil…it'd be best if you explained" I replied, and he gave an amused laugh "Well, there's a kind of spell Angels and Nephilim can use; a binding spell…it's a lot like how Demons do that blood ritual to become partners, just not as grotesque…" he paused as if debating on how to continue, and sighed heavily. "It burns Demons; some of us have tried it before…and humans? You know how it works with them. Anyways, Rey got the bright idea to try it on Valshe…and it worked for just a few seconds, then faded…on top of that, Nephilim and Angels can't make it through a Demons Portal alive…but Valshe could right? Don't you think that's odd?" he inquired, sitting down on the cool sand of the lakebed and tossing a stone, sending it skipping over the placid water in far spaced leaps before sinking into the dark, moonlit water below. Sitting down on a flat, dry rock a few yards away, I narrowed my eyes at him "Of course I think it's odd, but that doesn't really matter does it?" I quipped, narrowing my eyes at him.

Suddenly, he pushed himself fluidly to his feet and moved towards me "Here," he offered, and held out his hands, in which was cradled a small leather bound book that looked like someone's journal, held shut by a yellowing piece of white ribbon. It was stamped with white, complicated Angel runes that I could only make a little sense of no matter how hard I looked at them, and eventually gave up and took it from him. "How am I supposed to read this? I'm no Angel" I sighed, waving it at him carelessly "The runes inside are much easier to read than the ones on the front" Nate insisted, and motioned for me to open it.

Pulling in frustration at the ribbon, it finally slipped out of its knots and I was able to open it. Inside, pages were beginning to yellow and age as well, but they were still unbelievably well taken care of, and Nate had been right; the runes in this book were more than easy enough for me to comprehend. Nate looked over my shoulder and cleared his throat "I think it was on page fifty six…" he coaxed and I scoffed as I flipped through to the page he'd indicated. Raising a brow at the picture crudely sketched onto the page, I glanced at Nate for a moment, but he didn't seem to notice. The picture displayed was of an Avenging Angel, his two sets of wings shimmering and a Reaper Demon, probably a True Blood, his wings covered in blood and a wicked grin on his handsome face, both pulling on the arms of a human male, who looked pained, as if their efforts were tearing him apart. Shaking my head, I began to read, listening to Nate's steady breathing as he continued to read over my shoulder.

"As all Angels know, there has been no known occurrence of humans being able to fully see the world of Ethereals, however, a prophecy we've just recently deciphered may just break this cycle. The war between that of we, the Angels, the light side of the 'coin' so to speak, and the Demons, the dark side is escalating fast, showing no signs of a near end. According to this new prediction, when the fighting reaches it's climax, a third party will come into the picture; the human race. This human will be gifted the Ethereal sight at birth, by being both blessed by an Angel, and damned by a Demon and will thus be able to see the world as we do, and will be caught between the side of Demon and Angel. Once the human awakes to their sight, they will be approached by both Angel and Demon kind alike, as they will be the weight that will tip the scales to either favor, meaning the war will be won by the side the human chooses. Of course, that wasn't completely deciphered in the Vision, so we are unsure of whether or not this might hold any truth.

Perhaps you may be confused by why this human will be so sought after? Because the human baby was both blessed and damned at birth, they are granted a choice, though either way they'll be prohibited to stay human, will become an Ethereal being; part of our world.

As the change proceeds, the human will gain powers of both Demon and Angel, for example, the ability to use the weapons of both species, being able to travel through both the Angels Path, and the Demons Portal, gaining the Angels powers of spells and finally, the select use of Artes of which Demons are gifted with. It is however, not until the human becomes a full Ethereal that they will be presented with their choice; whether to join our kind as an Angel, or to join the Under Realms as a Demon.

After they choose their path, they will be given immense powers, and as an Angel, will be given powers that are quite possibly stronger than the High Seraph, while if they become a Demon, they will be granted powers stronger than the still-to-be-discovered leader of the Demon realm, essentially being granted the power of a God among immortals."

Sighing heavily, I turned to Nate, who had finished reading quite a while before I had, and he was watching me intently "Did you read the whole thing?" he asked, his face both unemotional and excited at the same time "Yeah, most of it…"I replied and gave a bored yawn; I hadn't paid much attention in class when I'd been required to go, and pulled out a B average by mostly best guessing, yet he expected me to pay attention when he was trying to teach me about something so useless? "Read…this part" he pointed to a short paragraph at the end of the entry and looked back at me expectantly "You might as well just explain it to me" I told him, and spread out on the stones cool face while he sighed in mock frustration beside me.

"Well…it briefly explains how one of the parents were blessed by the High Seraph, and the other damned by…whoever it is leads you guys…" he paused as if he thought I'd actually answer that, and he resumed when I closed my eyes and stayed silent "And that's apparently how the child got both…" he finished bluntly.

"That can't be right," I quipped, earning me a confused release of breath from the boy sitting next to me "If someone is damned, they repel the love of someone who was blessed; that's just how it works" I explained, opening my eyes and noting his tiny nod of agreement, though he seemed more entranced by the brilliance of the stars above us. "While that may be true, you know how humans are; they don't need to love one another to make a mistake together" he replied knowingly "I guess you're right, but that's still never happened before…" I sighed again and shook my head "Not until Valshe you mean" he met my gaze with his dark brown one and I realized how oblivious I'd been.

Mentally, I was beating myself at how stupid I'd been; how hadn't I noticed how the pieces started to match up with the few we'd already had, though I couldn't say I was completely convinced. Copying Nate and admiring the stars I'd only seen once or twice since I'd become a Demon I mulled it over for a bit…Valshe was the first human that could see the whole Ethereal world that any of us had ever heard of, looking back she'd been able to hold and use both the feather staff I'd given her, and Nate's blade when she's moved to swing it at him.

I knew nothing of her parents, nor could I tell without meeting them, if they'd been favored by Angel or Demon, and made a self note to ask her about it later. "How would you know? Why would Valshe talk to you about her parents?" I asked, and clenched my fists when I saw his smug smile out of the corner of my eyes "She told me because I asked her about it; her parents were never married, it was that 'I got drunk, I met so-and-so, I slept with them, we got you' kind of thing apparently…her mom's relationship is difficult for Valshe, her dad has a girlfriend, she only sees him a few times a month..." he hesitated when he told me each bit of info, his lower lip slightly tucked in, showing he was biting it.

He stood up abruptly, and turned to me "That's it I guess…" he said, took one last glance at the just beginning to lighten sky, and started to walk back where we'd came. Jumping up and following after him, I caught at his shoulder and he flinched away with a dark glare in my direction "Why would you tell me this anyways? You're a Nephilim…so why help a demon?" I prompted, his face never smoothing from the violent look he was shooting me. "Because unlike the Demons, Angels and Nephilim like a fair fight; maybe even a little challenge…and Valshe is a kind girl, so I'm sure that even with you guys working to get her on your side, she'll always come back to us" he replied shortly as we came to the doors and he flung them open before brusquely stepping inside.

On the way up to the bed room they were allowing me, another question raised in my mind "So where's your brother? He was hurt too wasn't he?" I inquired with disinterest, not expecting the reaction I was rewarded with.

Nate sighed and leaned heavily on the wall before turning slowly to face me "He's sleeping it off…not that it's your business…" he returned weakly, and half limped to where I assumed his room was, absent-mindedly clutching at his side, as if in pain.

A/N: This one has a lot of things that might have you saying "huh?" so if there's something you don't understand about this chapter or any other chapter in particular, please feel free to pm me or ask about it in a review! Until next time, please review and make sure you hug a teacher today (it scares them :D)


	5. He Dreams in Death

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T for violence. Possibly because it _mentions_ D going off and doing everything he does with those poor girls he beds all the time.

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

I lay on my bed; blankets pulled tightly around me while my father sat beside me, stroking my head and telling me the most amazing stories of my mother until I was finally able to fall asleep.

I didn't know how long I had slept, but when I reopened my eyes it was pitch dark in the room, save for the sliver of moonlight slinking through a crack in the curtains.

I sat up stiffly and rubbed the back of my throat, which was dry again, and found a pitcher of ice water and an empty glass on the bedside table. I had drank two full glasses before someone else in the room cleared their throat and I automatically grabbed for a weapon in my belt, which had been removed, and spun around to look for the source of the noise. Sitting in a chair leaning against the white and gold wall, was Nate, watching me intently "How are you?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned "Where's Valshe?" I inquired, ignoring his question. He sighed deeply and pointed at the wall behind him "Next door…sleeping probably, and the other Demon is in that room over there" he pointed at the wall opposite him.

Nodding, I moved over to the window and threw the curtains open, so the room was awash in a dim silver glow "I feel better" I told him, in answer to his question and turned back to face him. For a moment I thought he had fallen asleep, his eyes were closed, and he looked completely relaxed "That's a relief…Valshe was worried about you" he informed me after a long silence then stood up and moved towards the door. "Come on" he called over his shoulder as he exited the room like a shadow.

As much as I hated the idea of following a Nephilim into unknown territories, I did, and met Nate in a huge lavish room, with a fireplace almost as tall as Valshe and as wide as one of the cafeteria tables back at the base with an elegant mantle carved in swirling designs of gold and bronze. I could tell my eyes were wide as I turned around and around, trying unsuccessfully to take in the brilliance of the room "Cool huh? I've lived here for seven years and I'm still not used to it" Nate mused, smirking at my childishness. "It's probably not the best idea to discuss this in this place…walls have ears and all that" he explained when I gave him a questioning look "So I thought we could take a walk?" he suggested "That's fine" I replied and followed behind him as he smiled graciously and opened a large door, revealing the courtyard beyond it.

The courtyard, much like the room we had just left, was unnecessarily large, extravagantly decorated, and well kept. Walking out of the shining bronze gates and onto a damp cobblestone path leading towards a glimmering lakebed I took a deep breath; I had never breathed cleaner air. "I assume you've heard about how Angels and Nephilim can form Pacts with each other right?" he turned his head a bit and waited for my response.

I shrugged "I never really paid much attention in class, Nephil…it'd be best if you explained" I replied, and he gave an amused laugh "Well, there's a kind of spell Angels and Nephilim can use; a binding spell…it's a lot like how Demons do that blood ritual to become partners, just not as grotesque…" he paused as if debating on how to continue, and sighed heavily. "It burns Demons; some of us have tried it before…and humans? You know how it works with them. Anyways, Rey got the bright idea to try it on Valshe…and it worked for just a few seconds, then faded…on top of that, Nephilim and Angels can't make it through a Demons Portal alive…but Valshe could right? Don't you think that's odd?" he inquired, sitting down on the cool sand of the lakebed and tossing a stone, sending it skipping over the placid water in far spaced leaps before sinking into the dark, moonlit water below. Sitting down on a flat, dry rock a few yards away, I narrowed my eyes at him "Of course I think it's odd, but that doesn't really matter does it?" I quipped, narrowing my eyes at him.

Suddenly, he pushed himself fluidly to his feet and moved towards me "Here," he offered, and held out his hands, in which was cradled a small leather bound book that looked like someone's journal, held shut by a yellowing piece of white ribbon. It was stamped with white, complicated Angel runes that I could only make a little sense of no matter how hard I looked at them, and eventually gave up and took it from him. "How am I supposed to read this? I'm no Angel" I sighed, waving it at him carelessly "The runes inside are much easier to read than the ones on the front" Nate insisted, and motioned for me to open it.

Pulling in frustration at the ribbon, it finally slipped out of its knots and I was able to open it. Inside, pages were beginning to yellow and age as well, but they were still unbelievably well taken care of, and Nate had been right; the runes in this book were more than easy enough for me to comprehend. Nate looked over my shoulder and cleared his throat "I think it was on page fifty six…" he coaxed and I scoffed as I flipped through to the page he'd indicated. Raising a brow at the picture crudely sketched onto the page, I glanced at Nate for a moment, but he didn't seem to notice. The picture displayed was of an Avenging Angel, his two sets of wings shimmering and a Reaper Demon, probably a True Blood, his wings covered in blood and a wicked grin on his handsome face, both pulling on the arms of a human male, who looked pained, as if their efforts were tearing him apart. Shaking my head, I began to read, listening to Nate's steady breathing as he continued to read over my shoulder.

"As all Angels know, there has been no known occurrence of humans being able to fully see the world of Ethereals, however, a prophecy we've just recently deciphered may just break this cycle. The war between that of we, the Angels, the light side of the 'coin' so to speak, and the Demons, the dark side is escalating fast, showing no signs of a near end. According to this new prediction, when the fighting reaches it's climax, a third party will come into the picture; the human race. This human will be gifted the Ethereal sight at birth, by being both blessed by an Angel, and damned by a Demon and will thus be able to see the world as we do, and will be caught between the side of Demon and Angel. Once the human awakes to their sight, they will be approached by both Angel and Demon kind alike, as they will be the weight that will tip the scales to either favor, meaning the war will be won by the side the human chooses. Of course, that wasn't completely deciphered in the Vision, so we are unsure of whether or not this might hold any truth.

Perhaps you may be confused by why this human will be so sought after? Because the human baby was both blessed and damned at birth, they are granted a choice, though either way they'll be prohibited to stay human, will become an Ethereal being; part of our world.

As the change proceeds, the human will gain powers of both Demon and Angel, for example, the ability to use the weapons of both species, being able to travel through both the Angels Path, and the Demons Portal, gaining the Angels powers of spells and finally, the select use of Artes of which Demons are gifted with. It is however, not until the human becomes a full Ethereal that they will be presented with their choice; whether to join our kind as an Angel, or to join the Under Realms as a Demon.

After they choose their path, they will be given immense powers, and as an Angel, will be given powers that are quite possibly stronger than the High Seraph, while if they become a Demon, they will be granted powers stronger than the still-to-be-discovered leader of the Demon realm, essentially being granted the power of a God among immortals."

Sighing heavily, I turned to Nate, who had finished reading quite a while before I had, and he was watching me intently "Did you read the whole thing?" he asked, his face both unemotional and excited at the same time "Yeah, most of it…"I replied and gave a bored yawn; I hadn't paid much attention in class when I'd been required to go, and pulled out a B average by mostly best guessing, yet he expected me to pay attention when he was trying to teach me about something so useless? "Read…this part" he pointed to a short paragraph at the end of the entry and looked back at me expectantly "You might as well just explain it to me" I told him, and spread out on the stones cool face while he sighed in mock frustration beside me.

"Well…it briefly explains how one of the parents were blessed by the High Seraph, and the other damned by…whoever it is leads you guys…" he paused as if he thought I'd actually answer that, and he resumed when I closed my eyes and stayed silent "And that's apparently how the child got both…" he finished bluntly.

"That can't be right," I quipped, earning me a confused release of breath from the boy sitting next to me "If someone is damned, they repel the love of someone who was blessed; that's just how it works" I explained, opening my eyes and noting his tiny nod of agreement, though he seemed more entranced by the brilliance of the stars above us. "While that may be true, you know how humans are; they don't need to love one another to make a mistake together" he replied knowingly "I guess you're right, but that's still never happened before…" I sighed again and shook my head "Not until Valshe you mean" he met my gaze with his dark brown one and I realized how oblivious I'd been.

Mentally, I was beating myself at how stupid I'd been; how hadn't I noticed how the pieces started to match up with the few we'd already had, though I couldn't say I was completely convinced. Copying Nate and admiring the stars I'd only seen once or twice since I'd become a Demon I mulled it over for a bit…Valshe was the first human that could see the whole Ethereal world that any of us had ever heard of, looking back she'd been able to hold and use both the feather staff I'd given her, and Nate's blade when she's moved to swing it at him.

I knew nothing of her parents, nor could I tell without meeting them, if they'd been favored by Angel or Demon, and made a self note to ask her about it later. "How would you know? Why would Valshe talk to you about her parents?" I asked, and clenched my fists when I saw his smug smile out of the corner of my eyes "She told me because I asked her about it; her parents were never married, it was that 'I got drunk, I met so-and-so, I slept with them, we got you' kind of thing apparently…her mom's relationship is difficult for Valshe, her dad has a girlfriend, she only sees him a few times a month..." he hesitated when he told me each bit of info, his lower lip slightly tucked in, showing he was biting it.

He stood up abruptly, and turned to me "That's it I guess…" he said, took one last glance at the just beginning to lighten sky, and started to walk back where we'd came. Jumping up and following after him, I caught at his shoulder and he flinched away with a dark glare in my direction "Why would you tell me this anyways? You're a Nephilim…so why help a demon?" I prompted, his face never smoothing from the violent look he was shooting me. "Because unlike the Demons, Angels and Nephilim like a fair fight; maybe even a little challenge…and Valshe is a kind girl, so I'm sure that even with you guys working to get her on your side, she'll always come back to us" he replied shortly as we came to the doors and he flung them open before brusquely stepping inside.

On the way up to the bed room they were allowing me, another question raised in my mind "So where's your brother? He was hurt too wasn't he?" I inquired with disinterest, not expecting the reaction I was rewarded with.

Nate sighed and leaned heavily on the wall before turning slowly to face me "He's sleeping it off…not that it's your business…" he returned weakly, and half limped to where I assumed his room was, absent-mindedly clutching at his side, as if in pain.

A/N: Yeah, I'm going back and editing some stuff in all of the chapters for the sake of the story and you readers...see how considerate I am? The next chapter has some more of the darker stuff like in this one, and I'd like to inform all you lovely readers now that I've decided that I'm not going to be able to finish this epic something-or-other in just one book, so there will probably be one or even two more after this one -chuckles darkly- wait until you all see what I have planned for my poor little charries! Until next time, review if you can, and remember to eat your smart cookies!


	6. Refuse

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: DarkFantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T. As always

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so pleas do not use them as they are my babies...enjoy!

I hated it. I hated how Damien always dropped everything to make sure I was safe, I hated how I was always too stubborn to thank him for it, and most of all, I hated how much I hurt him when I made the stupid decisions I so often did. But he didn't care…he never cared, as long as I ended up okay.

"It's a big brothers job to take care of his little brother" he'd told me when I'd once asked him about it, which made me feel even worse.

I leaned up against the wall and scowled at nothing in particular before pounding my clenched fist into the hard, smooth surface, my eyes squeezed tightly shut, and regretted it when I realized that I didn't live here, and they'd probably be mad if I damaged anything.

The wall however, showed no sign of my previous assault, but was still as smooth and clean as ever. "Are you having a rough morning, Little Demon?" a familiar voice inquired from beside me, causing my eyes to shoot open as I vaulted myself to the head of the bed.

Malachi sat across the bed from me, smiling serenely "What?" I hissed, glaring at him menacingly "I heard you and your friend from down the hall, and after he stormed out, I decided to come check on you" Malachi said, pushing himself closer and pressing a large, cool hand to my forehead "It seems as though you've made a full recovery" he confirmed quietly, smiling in…relief? "I don't need anyone checking up on me, I'm almost eighteen years old, and a Ravager Demon on top of that! And I'm not in the mood to deal with your crap right now Angel!" I spat, further narrowing my eyes.

Apparently he thought this was hilarious and began to laugh, holding his sides lightly and eventually wiping a tear from his sea green eyes "What's your problem?" I snarled, reaching across the small gap that separated us to grab the collar of his baggy dark blue dress shirt. "My, Little Demon, how violent" he teased, and took my wrists, twisting them as far as they could go and then a little farther until I let go. "Rey is the same way you know…both of you think you're much stronger than you actually are" he straightened his shirt and smiled at me "If someone is willing to give up their time to be sure that you are safe, you should be thankful and accept it" he told me, his unsettling eyes never once leaving mine.

"Whatever…"

His smile widened at my grumbled response "Age has nothing to do with power you know…and even then, it doesn't help the fact that you must learn first to use said power" he continued, standing up and looking down at me "Sure" I replied shortly, following suit and shoving up off the bed myself.

"Speaking of…what ever happened to him? That Rey guy I mean" I asked, earning me a suspicious look from Malachi "You'll have to elaborate a bit better Little Demon" he replied descending the very same stairs Nate and I had before my attack. "Well, he was hurt wasn't he? Not that it really matters. The less Angels I have to deal with, the better" I added upon catching his amused expression when he tilted his head towards me the slightest bit.

Malachi shook his head and hummed in thought "Rey is doing just fine" he answered finally "Nate is kinda touchy about him isn't he? They must be close…" I jumped the final two steps and felt a slightly satisfying whoosh before my feet touched the ground all too soon.

"Though Nate and Rey are virtually inseparable, you'll rarely see them together…" he informed me, becoming a bit more tight lipped than I was used to him being. "You're contradicting yourself" I commented, not noticing him stop in front of me and almost running into him "Listen Little Demon, if Nate or Rey wish to entrust you with their secret, then you may know…but unless it is of their will, I cannot discuss this matter any farther" he said strictly, though kindly, as one might scold a young child.

Valshe had just started to set the table when we walked into the room, where one of the twins; I assumed it was Rey by the dirty look he threw me when I entered behind Malachi, and Damien already sat. "Morning sleepy head" Valshe giggled when I sat down beside Damien, who looked between me and Malachi with a slim eyebrow raised, though he kept his mouth shut "Morning Valshe" I replied through a barely stifled yawn.

Breakfast had to be one of the worst things I'd ever been forced to sit through; Malachi had lead grace, during which Damien scowled at the lacy white table cloth and I glanced around the grand dining room awkwardly.

After grace, we (Damien and I) ate silently while the rest of the small group chatted about the pleasantries of Heaven; how beautiful it was, how it was always peaceful, how they had _such_ wonderful people…that sort of thing. "It seems as though we are making our other guests uncomfortable doesn't it?" Malachi remarked after slowly, politely, taking a sip of the deep red wine that his cup was full of.

"I'm so sorry guys! I was so excited about everything I've seen the past few days that I guess I just can't help it…" Valshe apologized and, feeling guilty, I quickly told her it was no big deal, despite Damien's semi-surprised glare he shot me as I said it.

"I don't see why it matters" Rey grumbled haughtily "They're just Demons; why should it matter if they're uncomfortable?" he finished, prodding at a bit of fresh bread with his index finger in boredom.

Shaking his head warily, Malachi gave an almost sympathetic smile "I know this is no better for you or your brother, Rey, but please, we always treat our guests with respect, no matter who they are" he reminded him quietly, and Rey rolled his eyes in response "Yeah, yeah, I know…" he replied, looking up sharply as the sound of chair legs skidding across the marble floor resounded off the walls.

They all stared at me as I pushed myself up and quickly excused myself, trying desperately to hide the trembling that threatened to immobilize me "Xander?" Damien questioned, following me up, and over to the door "What's the matter?" he questioned, not even glancing at Valshe as she came to stand beside him, the concern dancing in her eyes and the expression she wore.

"It's nothing" I told them stiffly. Smile, I told myself when their faces voiced the disbelief they held to, and forced one as best as I could. "I'm fine, really" I assured them, and turned to leave the room.

"_If someone is willing to give up their time to be sure that you are safe, you should be thankful and accept it"_

Malachi's words echoed in my pounding head and regret washed over me once more "Do you want us to come with you?" Valshe asked, gripping at my sleeve hopefully. After a moments hesitation I nodded, and could anything but feel Malachi's pleased smile over the rim of his glass.

As it turned out, when I thought that they'd made me take my medicine, I realized how stupid the idea was; they had none of the ingredients to make it up in Heaven because it was all banned. I found out that the electricity burned up most of the blood that was sitting in my lungs and throat and the bitter sweet liquid I'd thought I'd tasted was really just water, and I had been so out of it, that I'd just imagined the taste filling my mouth.

I didn't think that I could really get around it now though, as Valshe had convinced Malachi to allow us to open a Portal in 'such holy grounds' for us to get the stuff we needed and Damien had just opened one up as I silently brooded on the bed.

Once our feet hit the ground again, we were in south New York, on a crowded street with long, narrow alleys separating every building, creating a maze that not even the people who lived there could completely navigate.

Damien and I weaved our way through crowds of people, Valshe having to jog behind us in order to keep up, when we found our target.

The boy standing in front of us had skin just a shade or two darker than caramel and dark brown eyes that told how he had seen and experienced more than his age gave him credit for. He was a half inch taller than Damien, and had a slender but muscular build covered by a baggy red T-shirt and baggier dark jeans that he'd sagged so the basketball shorts underneath showed over the hem of the waist band.

"How's it goin' Costello, Ravi?" he asked, his tenor voice confident and strong "Could be better" I replied, and he gave a short laugh "Couldn't agree more bro" he said, clapping me hard on the back. "So wha'dya need from a Phantom demon like me? I just got a new shipment in if that's what you're lookin' for" he gave a devilish grin at Damien's silent nod "Aight' anything for a friend of the family, eh Xandie?" he smirked at me and turned to face a deeper part of the alley.

While we walked down the narrow, litter filled alley, Valshe seemed to slink closer and closer to me and Damien, looking around cautiously, as if something would jump out at her if she didn't pay close enough attention.

"Hey DJ, where you bringing us?" Damien asked DJ, who tilted his head and sighed contentedly as his neck cracked loudly "Does it really matter?" he returned, and gave another wild grin "Who's the lil' lady? Got yerself another human girl again, huh D? I though you were quittin' 'em" he joked, and Damien's face reddened with irritation. "She isn't 'mine'…we're supposed to be protecting her or something like that…" Damien shot back and DJ laughed "Okay, but yer still getting' some on the side right? I mean, she's not a knock out, but she's pretty high up there" DJ nudged Damien with his shoulder, who simply shook his head blatantly.

I gave an apologetic smile back at Valshe, who gave a tiny smile in return "So lil' lady, what's yer name? Don' worry, you can tell ol' DJ" he coaxed, and put his arm around her shoulders to pull her close. "V-Valshe…" she replied, as if not sure how to react to how differently DJ acted compared to what she had probably gotten used to over the past week or so.

DJ gave a low whistle and smiled "Vee huh? You don' mind if I call ya that do ya? Aw, 'course ya don't!" he continued, and Valshe shrank more and more with each and every word that came out of his mouth with sheer nerves.

We'd walked about a mile by the time DJ stopped at a dark colored door and took a jingling set of keys out of his loose pockets, skillfully picking the right one out of the dozen on it and slipping it into the rusty old lock.

"Yo, Pop! I'm back!" DJ yelled into the seemingly empty house, all of us kicking our shoes off and padding through the entry way to the dank living room, where the TV was turned on to the sports channel, the sound muted while a football player was tackled to the ground in a heap of others sweaty bodies as he keep his ironclad grip on the ball that was tucked in his arms.

While we sat down on the filthy couch (much to Valshe's dismay), DJ moved into the other hallway that lead to both his and his fathers rooms, as well as an old, rotting bathroom. "Who's over?" a deep voice asked from down the hall before Darren's tall, built frame stepped into the room, eyes widening brightly for the slightest moment "Well, well, if it ain't Xander Costello" he said, giving an amused smirk "It's been awhile hasn't it?" he asked and I nodded in agreement.

"How're ya doin' down there kiddo? Working your way up the ladder and all that? And what's with the human girl?" Darren crashed down next to me on the couch and took a quick swig out of a silvery flask, the heavy smell of whiskey reaching my nose and making me cringe. "I'm doing good…ugh, fine, it's not going too well" I grumbled when Damien elbowed me and gave me his 'you kidding?' look. "Ah. That's too bad…but hey, that's probably why ya came right?" Darren squeezed my shoulder and grinned the very same grin his son always did.

Silently agreeing, I cleared my throat again, ignoring the blood that came up when I did so "As for 'working my way up the ladder' according to Master Paulet, I'm his top Ravager demon so I suppose you could say I am" I informed him, clenching and unclenching my hands mindlessly "Not bad kiddo, not bad at all" he commented around the lip of the flask, pulling it away and frowning "Gimme a sec, I gotta fill this stupid thing…" he said, standing up and heading back to the kitchen.

"So…why are we here again?" Valshe asked quietly, her head still turning around nervously "To get Xander his stuff" replied Damien, kicking his feet up to rest on the smudged glass coffee table.

She nodded and clamped her hands together in her lap. "Is it legal?" she asked, and we heard laughter from down the hallway when DJ walked out, holding a bag full of white powder and handing it to me. "Legal? Tha's a good one Vee" he joked, unsuccessfully trying to hold in his laughter "They're drugs? How are those going to help him?" she gasped, staring wide eyed between the three of us while she pressed further into the fraying, colorless couch.

DJ smiled innocently "Heh, sorta…see these? They ain't just any old human drugs…they're Under Dweller drugs; Xandie here needs 'em so he don't drown 'imself in his own blood" DJ explained, and I watched as Valshe's expression became more and more fearful, every once in a while locking gazes with me and giving me a concerned look I'd only seen Damien give me before.

Darren chose that moment to reenter the room, flask in hand, examining each of our troubled faces in confusion "Well, wha' happened in here? Don' think I've ever heard the house this quiet" he said, crossing his arms when none of us replied.

"Hey kiddo, you gonna tell me who yer human friend is?" he pressed, nodding his head in my direction "Her name is Valshe" I replied shortly, my eyes not once leaving hers "Yeah? What're ya doin' followin' demons around there, Valshe? Pretty dangerous for a lil' lady like yerself" he commented in amusement, leaning his huge, muscular frame against the water stained wall.

Valshe shook her head, her soft silver hair catching stray beams of light from the bare bulb that hung over our heads "I don't mind" she told him and gave a tiny smile "Xander and Damien are my dogs after all" her smile turned into an all out grin and Darren followed suit. "Now tha's what I like ta hear girlie! You whip those trouble makers inta shape!" he boomed, sending his laugh echoing throughout the room as he reached into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes and lit one up, still snickering.

Damien glared at Valshe and I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation "I'm not in the mood human! Don't. Screw. With. Me." He growled angrily, and Valshe stuck her tongue out at him stubbornly.

For a long time after that, the room was silent until Valshe sucked in a careful breath "What did you mean, 'drown in his own blood'? And what are drugs supposed to help with anyways?" she asked, watching DJ with a child's interest.

DJ gave a half hearted smile "Ya see…I don' think I should be tellin' ya that kinda stuff Vee" he paused and glanced over at me "It's Xandie's thing, so he can tell ya all 'bout it" he explained, nodding in my direction.

All of the eyes in the room followed his nod to where I sat, each of them scrutinizing my pained expression; I was trying not to cough so Damien didn't worry so much, but because of that, I had to breathe shallowly and make it seem like I was breathing normally. I counted my breaths carefully, making sure I didn't breathe too deep…in, out, in, out…and as I tried to calm down enough to tell Valshe 'Yeah, I'll tell you about it later' I gagged, one hand flying to my mouth to keep the blood from spraying everywhere, causing Valshe to jump while Damien and Darren leapt to my side and DJ ran to the kitchen to make my 'meds'.

Darren grasped my shoulder tightly with one hand, and pounded on my back with the other "You gotta cough it up kiddo, come on…" he ordered softly when I tried to hold it in.

In my panic to breathe, I caught a glimpse of the face Damien was making and immediately tore my eyes away; worry was written all over his usually calmer features along with another emotion, just barely showing in the dull glint of his eyes…disappointment maybe? So now he was disappointed with me? Wonderful, that was bound to make me feel like getting better.

I watched helplessly, panting shallowly as the edges of my vision slowly started to go black when I heard Darren yell something to DJ and shivered slightly when his warm hands left my shoulder and back.

"Get his shirt off Damien, you know how it goes" I heard Darren say, promptly followed by a blast of cold air barraging my now bare chest and causing me to shake even more violently while Darren tried to steady me. Damien grabbed the syringe from Darren, full of the deep purplish liquid "Don't even try Xander" he warned when he saw the wary glare I was casting at it "Just hold still and it'll be over soon" he assured me and pressed the needle into the skin encasing my lungs.

A/N: Okay, I hope this one is to your guy's liking...sorry for the long wait, I know I should be updating on here more but RL (or school more so) is really starting to ride me. I noticed that I have lots of characters in here whose names satrt with D (Damien, Darren, DJ...) I noticed that when I was typing and all of their names showed up in the same paragraph, so my apologies if that annoys you. I thought this would be a wonderful place to cliff-hanger you all -is shot- I'll try to get the next one up as soon as I can, which I'll try to finish by next week or the week after...until then, review the story, continue reading, and avoid the purple liquid!


	7. A Single Human Girl

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantast/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each anf every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

Heavy numbness; that's all I was able to feel after Damien removed the needle and stepped back to watch me.

The pressure on my chest slowly left, making me at first feel empty and light, then was replaced with a slight burning that is really only comparable to heart burn. My vision returned to its normal state and my eyes narrowed when I realized that they were trying to talk to me.

Darren heaved a sigh and plopped down on the couch dramatically "Whew! I thought I lost ya for a sec' there kiddo! What would your dad 'a thought if you joined him in the next plane, huh? He'd prolly have my head" he chuckled and I managed a weak smile in reply.

I looked around the room at the other three; DJ grinned and gave me a thumbs up "That was freakin' awesome Xandie! I didn't know it got _that_ bad!" he commented. Damien met my gaze for a few seconds before dropping it to the ground with a frown, but I still saw the relief in his eyes. I then turned to Valshe, who was almost as white as the day we'd first met each other, her lips were pursed and she looked as if she was trying to find something to say and simply couldn't.

Coughing a few more times so I could get what was left of the blood out; I pushed myself to my feet and had to steady myself against the wave of dizziness that followed.

"I guess yer gonna need sa'more then huh?" DJ asked and moved to push himself up "You don't have to get up; I know where they are" I replied quickly and started somewhat shakily down the hall to DJ's room.

Turning the knob and opening the door to step into the room that was almost as familiar as my own and shutting it silently behind me, I grabbed the rickety wooden chair from beside the small desk tucked in the space between the door and the wall, where an ancient looking computer monitor sat with piles of CDs, DVDs, and trash littered across it's chipped, beat up surface.

Pulling the chair so it was pressed against the door, I put a foot on it and tested it; just to be sure it would hold my weight. It did, and I jumped up, grabbing the 'vent'- which was really a metal box with a vent grate and about an inch of the ventilation shaft- that was in the ceiling above and pulling it down before sitting on the chair and pulling the top off to peer inside.

The box wasn't very big, but DJ knew how to pack the littler drugs in it so he had at least fifty different kinds, give or take about ten packets for each, and it was a bit more difficult than it should've been to find mine.

Of course, it would've helped if he would've actually labeled any of them, but it would've made it easier for him to get busted if anyone ever found them.

I picked out two of the little bagfuls; enough to get me through a few months at least and carefully put the lid back on the top before placing it back in the ceiling where it belonged and heading back into the living room with the others.

As soon as I walked in, the room went silent, each person acting as if they were preoccupied with something else, all of them avoiding looking at me too directly.

"So I can assume you were talking about me?" I asked, leaning up against the wall and crossing my arms over my chest sternly "'Course we were Xandie, why do you think we all shut up?" DJ replied happily, earning a disapproving look from the others "Doesn't surprise me" I muttered, rolling my eyes. Darren cleared his throat and gave me an almost embarrassed smile "We're just checkin' up on ya kiddo…you never come down here anymore an' when ya do, you have a fit. We was just worried is all" he informed me, scratching the back of his shaved head nervously.

I nodded, giving a small smile "No, I understand" I assured him "I'll try to make it over here more often" I continued until Darren stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder "Jus' watch yerself kiddo" he said quietly, locking his dark brown eyes with mine for a few lengthy moments before leaving the room silently.

"Ya find it all right?" DJ asked as he, Valshe, Damien and I headed for the door "Yeah," I confirmed, showing him one of the little packets before stuffing it back in my pocket with the other. He simply nodded and opened the door "Be righ' back!" he yelled to the seemingly empty house before we left for the rapidly cooling city streets.

DJ lead us through the narrow allies, around the mobs of people in the crowded streets, and under the Hells gate bridge where he abruptly turned on us "How long're you stayin' in Heaven for?" he demanded, crossing his arms loosely. Damien and I exchanged a quick look; we'd forgotten how badly we probably smelled of Angel by now "Not too much longer" Damien relpied calmly, turning his empty gaze on DJ, where it stayed until DJ closed his eyes and looked away "Aight'…just don't get yerselves killed got it? Lost too many friends already" he told us reluctantly "Like they could" we replied simultaneously, earning a glare of sorts from Valshe, and one last grin from DJ before Damien finished our Portal and we headed back to Malachi's place.

We felt a growing pressure as we tried to pass through the barrier surrounding Heaven, but only lasted about a minute before we opened our eyes and we were back in the gigantic front room in our virtual prison in Heaven.

"So you've returned" Malachi greeted as he came out from the door to the dining room "Am I right in assuming you've solved your problem?" he asked, pausing to stand in front of us and give a slight bow which Valshe returned.

"Yeah, we did…what's it to you Angel?" Damien growled, pushing past him, up the stairs and into his room, stopping only to give me a 'come on!' look over his shoulder. "I see…I'm glad to hear it" Malachi replied honestly "Uh, yeah, thanks…" I muttered half-heartedly, making my way up to the room Damien was staying in, before noticing that Valshe too, had followed me up.

Pushing the door open and entering the room much the same way I entered our room back at headquarters, I slipped my shoes off, and sat down next to Damien on the bed, crossing my arms and leaning up against the wall lazily "So what'd you want?" I questioned, turning to look at him when he didn't reply. His eyes were closed, so I almost thought he hadn't heard me, but he'd furrowed his brows and had an annoyed frown on his face.

Valshe obviously thought he was asleep, proceeded to poke him lightly on his temple, and didn't move away fast enough to prevent getting her hand slapped away "You human, are not allowed to touch this" he teased, motioning at himself with a limp hand, opening his eyes and giving her one of his many taunting looks.

She took a moment to think about this and finally replied with "Good, because there's no way I would ever want to" she grinned at his disbelieving look, which he then turned to me when I gave a short laugh and stretched with a yawn. "Anyways" I pressed, earning me a 'Hang on!' and a light punch on my arm, which, up until that moment, had almost completely stopped hurting.

Damien sat up, cracked each of his fingers, and then turned to me "I was just wondering…I was too busy taking care of your sorry butt to ask about it before but…what did that Nephilim kid want to talk to you about anyways?" he inquired, and you could feel the attention in the room shift almost as easily as you'd be able to see your breath in the cold.

Sighing in defeat, I gave him a guilty smile "Here I thought you'd forgotten about that…" I groaned childishly "We were talking about Valshe" I replied when they both glared at me, earning a surprised gasp from Valshe and a raised brow from Damien.

"What do you mean, talking about me?" she demanded, fisting her hands in the materials of the shirt she'd gotten when Malachi sent an Angel down to get some of her clothes and other personal effects.

Watching her reaction carefully, I began to tell them both most of what had happened that night "We went out to a lake or something near here, and he brought this book he'd found that kind of explained what Valshe might be. Essentially, you were both blessed and damned at the same time and are thus, in some freak turn of events, able to use the powers of both Angel and Demon, and whichever you like most, you'll gain the full powers of the one you chose…that was about it though…" I explained, cutting out the bits and pieces of info that she didn't need to know until we knew for sure it was true.

Even if it was true, she didn't really have to know did she? After all, she was the kind of person that would automatically choose the Angels side, as they represented the 'good guys' right? Who's to say that by not telling her, she's technically not in much danger because she wouldn't even be involved in the war anyways?

Why did I care what happened to a single human girl?

The room was quiet for a little while, Damien and I shared an 'I'll tell you later' look and Valshe sat on the chair she'd pulled up beside the bed knotting and unknotting her hands in her lap.

"That's all?" she asked quietly, lifting her head up just the slightest little bit "That's all" I lied, pushing myself off the bed and taking her hands to pull her up as well, guiding her towards the partially closed doorway.

The expression on her face was all disappointment with a hint of contempt as she pushed the door open and turned to look at me with her big, saddened eyes.

"Don't worry" I soothed "We'll figure it out" I assured her as gently as I could, moving my hands away from hers and running a hand through her soft, shiny hair in an awkward gesture of comfort. "Yeah" she agreed weakly and turned to quickly head down the stairs before disappearing in the doorway to the dining room.

When I shut the door and returned to the bed to sit beside Damien, I couldn't help but notice the sly smirk he was giving me "What?" I asked, frowning when his smirk widened "Shouldn't I be the one asking that? You aren't falling for Valshe are you?" he teased, bumping his shoulder against mine, which I returned by shoving my elbow into his ribs "Why would I?" I shot back, attempting unsuccessfully to get him to drop the topic "Yet again, a question I should be asking…but I can see you're about to do something stupid in a desperate attempt to shut me up, so I'll get to more important matters; what did that book really say?" he asked knowingly.

I filled him in on the rest of the info; the bits I'd left out for Valshe, leaving him staring at me incredulously while I tried to convince him that that was what it really said "Woah" he muttered after a while "You'd never even think of something like that by looking at her…stronger than the High Seraph or the Leader? I still don't really believe it, but…" he trailed off, leaving the room filled with an uneasy silence.

Truth be told, I still didn't fully believe it either; it _had_ come from one of their books, but it was all we had to go on at this point. "Well, that's what it said" I told him again, feeling for all it's worth like a broken tape recorder "I believe _you_, it's them I'm worried about" he grumbled, flipping onto his stomach and propping himself up on his elbows, looking me over once or twice before letting his eyes fall shut, running his hands through his blonde hair before shaking his head impatiently.

I frowned, glanced out the window and shoved my hands into my pockets, where the corner of one of the little plastic bags cut my finger.

"…the Heaven?" I wondered aloud and pulled one out "Give me those" Damien ordered, having turned to see what was wrong with me. "Why? It's not like you have to use them…" I trailed off and handed them to him obediently "Because I know what you'll do if I let you keep them" he replied knowingly, reaching under the bed and pulling out a mid sized backpack, where he dropped them into the smallest front pocket and pulled the zipper closed, sliding it back under easily.

Sighing in mock defeat, I headed towards the door so I could go back to my room and get some much needed sleep. "Xander!" Damien called before I closed the door "What?" I asked, poking my head back in the room "Watch yourself, I have a bad feeling" he warned me, I nodded mutely and left, shutting the door behind me.

I was tired, I wanted to sleep, but heading back to my borrowed room, I knew there was no way I'd be able to seeing as how my mind was racing over the days events restlessly.

Since I'd been getting used to staying in Heaven at this point (which wasn't a very good thing at all) I was beginning to ignore it when I felt a 'holy' presence since the first few days I'd been here I'd been driven mad by the constant headaches they caused.

Because of this, I didn't even notice how close this one was until I opened the door and saw Nate/Rey sprawled on my bed lazily, not even looking up when I entered. "You know," I began snidely "I have to _sleep_ on that bed you're lying on right now" I complained in tired annoyance.

Rey opened one deep brown and green eye and narrowed it in my direction "Your point? This is _my_house you demon filth" he shot back venomously.

I put on my best annoyed face and glared at him, even though mentally I wanted to yank him off the bed and crawl into it myself so I could at least pretend to get some sleep "What do you want anyways? Here I was so convinced that you hated talking to 'the weak Ethereals from Hell'" I taunted.

He gave a short, bored laugh and nodded "Like I'm here because I want to be" he replied, sitting up and opening his two toned wings that had been folded neatly behind him. "Malachi told me to come up here and tell you that he told Valshe what you left out" he informed me with a smirk that was much more malicious than any holy Ethereal should've been able to give. 'Haha, I win' it seemed to scream triumphantly.

My mouth dropped slightly "What did he tell her?" I asked him, turning to look in the direction of Valshe's room "I already said, everything that you left out; are you deaf as well as brainless?" he growled in irritation "From what I saw, she looked pretty upset" he informed me, smirk not once leaving his lips "You should warn me before you talk to her again, I think it might just make my day to see her break your poor, corrupt heart" he continued ruthlessly while I stood motionless, hands clenched firmly at my sides.

"If something like that makes you happy, you must be even more corrupt than me" I replied, all but steaming with annoyance and anger "I never claimed that I wasn't" he told me with a dark grin "Leave" I ordered simply, having already had enough of the nephil at this point.

He pushed himself off the bed slowly, as if to taunt me even more and pushed past me to the door, bumping his shoulder against mine as he passed "Watch your back demon" he warned me much in the same way Damien had.

When the door slammed shut behind him I moved to the bathroom, filled a cup with cool water and drank it down in one gulp before heading back into the room and flopping back onto the bed that was too soft, then too warm, then too confiscating for me to actually be able to sleep, and it wasn't until the early light began to peek through the curtains that I was able to fall into a light, half asleep state.

A/N: I'm really sorry to all of my loyal readers that I promise to update this and then put it off for a long time! I hope this chapter makes up for it as I burned my finger several times trying to type this because my 'A' key is missing and every time I have to type one it's like sticking my finger into an oven (orz). But I will indure the pain for you all and continue writing! I hope to get antoher chapter up sometime within the month. Until next time, make sure you review and take good care of your keyboard, or it'll come back to burn you in the finger!


	8. Reliving the Nightmares

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one if the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

It was dark.

That was all that really registered when I first woke up; the utter darkness that surrounded me. After that, it was the fact that I couldn't move; something rough and stiff bound me to what felt like one of our dining room chairs, and I struggled with determination until the bare skin of my arms was rubbed raw and bloody.

I briefly wondered why it was that I couldn't hear anything, but my thought was interrupted when someone grabbed me by the hair, yanking my head back and undoing the blindfold that they'd put on me. When the heavy cloth finally fell to the ground I gave a small cry of surprise at the sight before me.

Slumped haphazardly against the wall in front of me was my father, his eyelids fluttering as if he were falling asleep, what I could see of his green eyes was dull, but were barley noticeable because of how dilated his pupils were.

The front of his grey shirt and his jeans were splattered here and there with a dark liquid, the same mixture of reddish purple dripping from the corner of his mouth, down his chin and neck, where it soaked into the torn up fabric of his shirt.

Two people stood on either side of him, one touching her forehead, then chest, then either shoulder before clasping her hands together in what might've been a prayer of some sort.

The other held something that looked like a whip, but had a blade like a knife at the very end, the smirk he wore contrasted the woman's soft frown, though they were both covered in the blood-drug mix, and it stained their once white clothing.

Another harsh pull on my hair made me remember the person behind me, and I tried unsuccessfully to turn my head to see who it was, gave up and watched my dad silently. The woman, apparently finished with her prayer pulled her hands apart and wiped the sticky blood onto the front of her robes, adding to the gore that already stained it.

Opening her brown eyes, she examined me for a moment, as if not knowing what to do with me, before lifting thin fingers and flicking them in my direction.

Suddenly, my hearing returned to me, though the room was still fairly quiet, save for the barely there moans that escaped my fathers lips and my gaze returned to watch him with worry. "It's pointless to worry little one; he will be relieved of his suffering soon" the woman told me gently, following my gaze to where my father's limp figure sat.

I shook my head and pulled weakly against the bonds that held me, impatient with the tears that burned in my eyes, threatening to spill over. But I wouldn't let them, I had to be strong for him, I wouldn't cry if it was going to be the last thing he saw; I wanted him to think I was strong, like he wanted me to be.

The man scoffed at my reaction and lifted his arm, swinging the whip-like weapon in the direction of my father, who was pierced through, blood gushing to the fresh wound and I watched, writhing helplessly in my bonds as his lips opened and a gut wrenching scream pierced my ears, his eyes wide with pain before the blade was savagely whipped back out of soft flesh and he fell forward with a dull thud, blood forming a puddle around his now dead form.

Unable to hold them back any longer, tears flowed down my face as I thrashed and yelled, trying to get there, trying to help him, even though deep down I knew I could do nothing "Dad!" I screamed "Get up Dad!" I yelled over and over again, until a hand from the person behind me connected sharply with the side of my head and I froze in disbelief; no one besides my father had ever dared hit me.

The woman nodded at the person behind me, and I felt something sharp graze my arm before I was released from my bonds, the splintering rope falling to join the blindfold and the blood on the floor.

Flinging myself off of the chair the moment I noticed that I was free, I launched myself over to my father and gripped his shoulder firmly, using all of the strength in my small body to turn him over onto his back.

His eyes were still wide open, but besides the blood and cuts, he actually looked peaceful for once, and I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, tears mixing with the substances already on him before I became aware of the laughing from behind me.

"It's as if he doesn't even realize he's dead…how sad" a familiar voice from behind me, and I spun around fast to see find the owner of the voice.

Standing in front of me was Night, his chocolate brown hair tousled and messy while his amber colored eyes shone in dark amusement that I could swear I'd seen somewhere before.

I stared in disbelief at who I'd thought was my father's friend, who'd betrayed him in the worst way, and my disbelief turned to anger.

I knew that I had no chance against whatever he was, especially since he was probably two times bigger than me, but I rushed forwards anyways.

Only to be knocked back as if I was nothing but an annoying fly.

The look he was giving me as I pushed myself to my feet and charged at him again was pure amusement, and he took one step forward to meet me, picked me up, and threw me over his shoulder, kicking and screaming in protest.

"You know that won't help you boy" he told me as I squirmed in his grip, but I didn't quit, instead opting to fight back even more than I already had been.

Night gave a barely audible sigh and turned his head the slightest bit to look at me "I_said_" he growled, lifting me over his shoulder a little bit "That won't help you boy!" he repeated, dropping me so my stomach landed on his shoulder and the breath was knocked out of me, causing me to go limp with a small yelp of pain.

The woman looked uncomfortable as Night dropped my light frame on the floor near the stairs that led to the kitchen and my only chance at possible freedom. "We were only ordered to get rid of the one human Nigathiel…we should just leave the child be" she reminded him, her voice almost pleading.

It was at that point I realized what it was he had planned for me and looked to the woman, whose eyes locked with mine sympathetically "I don't know, he could grow up and do the same thing as his old man, or maybe he'll try to get revenge and you know how troublesome that would be" Night- or Nigathiel as she had called him- prodded, a feral grin on his sharp, angular face.

The other man nodded, mimicking the grin with a slightly altered one of his own "Yeah, stop being such a softie; the kid's almost as much trouble as his good-for-nothing father" he agreed, moving so he could pin me to the ground with a booted foot.

Shaking her head, the woman knelt beside me and pushed the other mans foot off of me, helping me to sit up with a soft smile. "You can't condemn him for something his father did, that's something a Demon would do!" she exclaimed, pulling me closer "On top of that, he just witnessed his only parent's death! Don't you think he's been through enough for one day?" she pleaded, but was roughly shoved aside by Nigathiel.

He laughed lightly, as if what he was about to do was as simple as picking up groceries "Exactly; he's alone now, so as Angels we should spare him from suffering any further, shouldn't we?" he took a medium sized bottle out of his pocket, filled with a gross looking purple liquid and easily popped the lid off the top before bending down to grab my face and forcing it into my mouth.

I struggled wildly, working to spit it out, but found it difficult because of the way he gripped my face and throat, and most of it ended up going down anyways.

Gagging at the foreign taste invading my mouth, I noted at the back of my mind how odd it was; disgusting and bitter, but alluring and strangely addictive at the same time. The vial was soon empty, and Nigathiel let me go, only to have me stagger and fall back against him, dizziness sweeping over me in relentless waves that forced me to the ground, as if the whole world was on top of me.

Nigathiel pulled away from me with a small noise of disgust, allowing my small body to fall onto the grayish carpet of the basement floor with a dull thump "I can't believe you'd do this to a mere child" I heard the woman accuse harshly. "Maybe you should leave then" Nigathiel told her, and I could just barely see him nod in the direction of the other man followed by a bit of light protest before footsteps sounded up the stairs and I heard the door shut loudly "She's going back to the Path" the other man reported, sounding amused.

They gave a menacing laugh and I felt the tip of a blade kiss the back of my neck and trail down it slowly, tauntingly, but I couldn't find the courage to turn my head and look at the perpetrator, settling instead to press my face closer to the roughly carpeted floor. "I wonder how long he'll last" Nigathiel quipped with amusement and I jumped when a metallic sound reached my ears "I give him a few minutes" the other man replied, snickering darkly.

The first whip was probably what had hurt the most, the blade on the end gleaming silver and red as it sliced gracefully down my back, causing blood to splatter and drip everywhere.

I wondered how long they'd been going; my voice was already gone from all the screaming I'd done, and my body was wracked with so much pain that I couldn't even tell when they hit me anymore.

'Just let me die already!' I pleaded in my mind as a tear slid down my cheek to mix with the blood, and it seemed that my silent prayer had been heard when Nigathiel pulled my face up to look at him. "This will be the final blow" he told me, though at the time I hadn't been entirely sure of what he had said, what with the fact that both my hearing and my eyesight had long since become unreliable.

Never once did my eyes leave his as he lifted the blade-whip above his head and brought it down on me one last time, and I could hear myself give one final cry, followed by the deep, menacing laughter of the man towering in front of my collapsed body before my entire tiny world went black.

It felt almost like I was falling into endless nothingness, and I quickly found that, try as I might, I couldn't move any part of my excruciatingly numb body, and after an exhausting ten minutes of fighting to gain use of it, I gave up and cried until my conscious finally let me slip under.

My eyes vaulted open, and I looked around the small room frantically before looking down at myself to find that, again, it had been nothing more than a dream.

I let a relieved sigh escape my lips before untangling myself from the comforter on the bed and sitting up. Why did I feel as though I was supposed to realize something by reliving that nightmare? I'd had this dream _how_ many times now and I still hadn't noticed it?

Another sigh, a simple rush of air snaked through me and I decided that it must've been nostalgia, figuring it would be for the best if I just pushed that thought to the back of my mind while I was in this holy prison.

Getting out of bed was a bit more difficult than it should've been; dizziness made my head swim violently and I had to sit down a few times before I was able to hold myself up.

Noticing that I'd fallen asleep with my clothes on, I grimaced and opened the door to the bathroom and decided that a shower was exactly what I needed after a night like that, and began to strip.

I stepped into the shower, moving to turn the handle to start the water when an odd thought crossed my mind; hadn't the humans used a shower of some sort to kill people during one of their childish wars? By gas or something of the like?

Biting my lip, I examined the shower head accusingly, but realized that I was probably just being paranoid.

Hesitating slightly, I turned the handle and was admittedly relieved when water came spraying out; I mentally kicked myself for thinking they'd take the time to rig the thing in the first place and gratefully took my shower.

After my shower I found myself standing in front of the steamy mirror, grudgingly staring at the gash that marked my shoulder. It hadn't even begun to close up yet; it wasn't bleeding or anything, but in the week since I'd gotten it, I'd never once seen it even begin to scab over.

My thoughts were interrupted by a light knocking on the door "Breakfast" I heard Valshe mutter before hearing the door leaving the room open and shut loudly.

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror once more before draping a damp towel over my shoulders and shaking my head, sending droplets of water splashing onto the marble countertop. I hadn't thought that what I'd done would've upset her so much, it's not like I'd kept it from her to hurt her or anything.

Heaving one last big sigh, I pulled my shirt -now freshly washed- over my head before shoving the door open and heading out of the bathroom, then the bedroom, bracing myself for another heavenly dinner downstairs.

A/N: Alright, so I'm getting really bad about posting on here lately, but my life is kinda going to crap right now, so I'll try to update as soon as I can okay? Also, you guys don't have to read the next chapter if you don't want, as I'm trying something new. The next 'chapter' that's going to be put up here is going to be in Valshes POV and is essentially her take on whats been happening so far, so like I said, you can read it, or you can skip it, but I'm going to include a few things that Valshe knows or learns that you wouldn't otherwise hear in Xanders POV until later. Until next time, read, review, and join the fight against difficulties plaguing the lives of people everywhere!


	9. The Thoughts of Valshe

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

I'd been with Xander and Damien for a week now; seven days without so much as a glimpse of the old life I'd had back in California. Somehow though, I found that this didn't bother me very much, as my life hadn't exactly been the most perfect thing in the world before I'd met them.

My mom always told me that I shouldn't complain, after all; 'Things could be so much worse Valshe! In fact, when I was a kid…' blah, blah, blah, yeah mom, your life was, and apparently still is, horrible. However, I don't feel as though I'm really complaining; my life was about as normal as one could get, but no one truly knew me; I was always 'the quiet girl' or 'that smart kid'.

Truth be told, I was only quiet with those I didn't know, and I'd never been that smart in school; I barely got by with about a B/A average at the end of my quarters. Never once could I remember a time when someone had actually stopped to praise me because I'd never done anything extraordinary, and the lack of physical (or mental for that matter) contact at home made it awkward when one of my friends ran up behind me in the hallways and tackled me from behind in an excited hug.

Life had always fallen into a routine and was almost never fun or memorable since it was always the same thing day after eventless day. So yeah, my choice to go with the two demon boys hadn't been the smartest I'd ever made, but at the time, it had felt as if I was supposed to go with them; drawn to them like moth to the flame.

Maybe it was stupid and impulsive, sure I could've been kidnapped or raped or killed; none of that mattered now that everything had been said and done, everything- despite how terrified I'd been at first- had just clicked into place like the pieces of some intricate puzzle. I was glad I'd done what I did for once, things were looking up and I was happy now.

Well…mostly anyways.

I mean, sure, I get to have four handsome boys with personalities as different as the seasons that they apparently didn't have in their Ethereal world, all to myself; living the dream right? Not so much. All of them were good people to a fine point, they were funny, interesting and sweet, I just got tired of one little thing each of them seemed to do. They all neglect to tell me the things they find out from the tests they're doing on me; one would think I'd be the first to know right? Apparently they don't agree.

In fact, I only just found out a possibility (although not one I'm too happy with) of what I could be last night! I'd first been minutely filled in by Xander, but I'd been a bit suspicious that there'd been something else to what he'd told me, so I'd asked Malachi and Rey about it once I'd left Xander's room. I thought, that because of the whole feud thing the Angels and Demons had going, that they weren't able to converse very civilly until when Xander had brought up how he and Nate had been talking about me the other night at the lake near the house, (A. I still don't know whether or not to be worried about this, and B. The house is much too big to be an actual house, but that's what Malachi and the other Angels call it…) and Nate had brought up a theory he'd gotten from one of the Angel books. Xander had told me that one of my parents was blessed while the other had been damned, so for whatever reason that I don't think either Xander or Damien really knew, I was born with the powers of an Ethereal that will grow and develop over time.

That would've been all fine and dandy, except for the fact that he'd left out that I'd also become an Angel or Demon whom can apparently bring about a close to this whole 'eternity war' they have going on, with the incredible powers of a god that I'll somehow obtain. Malachi had told me that part, while Rey sat back with a little smirk on his smooth, pale face, adding in his knowledge here and there.

What had me slightly surprised before I'd headed up to bed that night though was when Malachi told me that I was such a strong and kind person who seemed to have a big burden on my shoulders, and proceeded to encourage me to come to him if I ever needed anything, even if it was just to talk. I thought it was nice to know that there was at least someone I could finally talk to, instead of always being the one who listens, even though it will take a bit of getting used to.

Once the door had shut I hadn't noticed that Rey had followed me out until I turned to shut the door and he was standing there behind me. He offered to walk me up to my room, which I gratefully accepted, heading over while talking quietly before sitting on the bed, leaning against the wall with the big comforter pulled over me for what must've been hours.

We'd decided to play a game like twenty questions, though we obviously asked more than twenty, and in those few hours, I learned a lot about both him and Nate.

For example, they both loved music; Rey played guitar, and Nate played drums, both sang…surprisingly, they were both very musical.

Their mother had been a human, and had died when a sickness she'd had her whole life had taken a sudden turn for the worse, and it ended up taking her life, with young Nate just outside the door as she took her last breath.

Their father was a great man, he held the ranking of Seraph, which was the second highest rank you could obtain as a member of Heaven, but neither Nate nor Rey had felt a very strong attachment to him as he was almost always gone. I guess Malachi was more of a father to them than theirs was.

I'd asked why Rey hadn't been there when his mother had died, and he'd gotten very quiet, the only sounds around us being the gentle swishing of the open curtains, the eerie creaking of the bedsprings as he shifted positions, and the lulling rustle of cloth as he pulled the blankets up around my shoulders.

"I don't know if I can tell you that just yet" was what he'd replied with, lifting a strong, slim fingered hand to the back of my head to play with my odd silvery locks of hair, then trailing a path down my neck, and back up to my hair again.

Simply nodding, I rested my head on one of his warm, broad shoulders, and must've fallen asleep, because when I next opened my eyes, I was laying with my head on my pillow and the warm, soft blue blanket pulled up to my chin, with neither Rey, nor Nate anywhere in sight.

A/N: Yeah, I know this one was short, but I plan to keep Valshes journal-like thingy shorter so it's more like a filler instead of an actual important part of the story...but, I hope you all enjoyed nonetheless! Please tell me if you liked this part of the story, because I don't know if I'll make the Valshe bits a regular thing or not...drop me a review if you feel like voting on it or whatever. Until next time, read, review, and for the love of pasta, try to get to bed at a decent time on the weekdays! Don't let me set a bad example for you because of this late update, okay?


	10. Unwelcome Visitor

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

I padded down the cream carpeted hallway, almost too lost in thought to hear the door open and close in front of me, stopping just short of being hit by it.

Standing at the door with a small smile on his face was Nate (I doubt the other one could manage a smile) and when I made eye contact with him, his smile got a little bigger "Morning" he greeted, moving to walk beside me "Morning" I grumbled back.

We walked past multiple other doors in silence, when Nate glanced at me out of the corner of his eye "I heard about Valshe" he commented, watching as my body became a bit rigid "Oh?" I questioned, trying not to bite my cheek; apparently everyone had heard about it.

He nodded easily and shrugged "Mhmm, she was telling me about it earlier; she's kind of mad, but I think you should try talking to her about it you know? Just tell her why you did what you did and I'm sure she'll understand" he suggested, stretching his long arms above his head and closing his eyes.

Because of his lack of attention- or maybe the holy Ethereals weren't all as graceful as they thought they were- he just missed the first step with his foot and tripped, quickly unfurling his wings and sending a powerful gust to the ground to keep him from falling.

For a moment, we simply stared at each other; Nate blushing in slight embarrassment, before I burst into laughter "Real smooth Nephil, real smooth!" I laughed out, moving aside to dodge his playful punch "Shut up!" he chuckled lightly, brushing chocolate brown hair from his eyes.

At the bottom of the stairs we were still giggling the slightest bit, talking as if we were friends on our way to get something to eat; I was enjoying myself, as was Nate, and I started to think that maybe, just maybe, not all holy Ethereals were so horrible.

That was of course, until there was knocking on the front door and Nate excused himself to go check who it was. In the meantime, I entered the dining hall and took a seat next to Damien, greeting Malachi with a small wave so he'd leave me alone, and a smile at Valshe, who avoided my eyes the best she could.

"Did you come down with that Nephilim kid?" Damien muttered when Malachi excused himself for a moment and Valshe wasn't paying attention "Yeah, why?" I inquired, leaning my head to his so we wouldn't be heard "I just don't think it would be the best idea to get close to anyone here Xander…" he replied, turning to look out the window and refusing to discuss it further.

When Malachi returned, he told us that it might be for the best if Damien and I laid low for a little while, maybe head back to Earth for a little while, though if we really wanted to stay, we were 'by all means welcome'.

After Nate returned he explained that someone important was visiting the house and they needed to get it ready before dinner when he was scheduled to show up and when we could come back. We agreed with no hesitation and headed upstairs with Valshe (though we could all tell she didn't want to come with) and formed a Portal to get to Earth again.

Though it hadn't been at all intentional, we'd ended up in one of the smaller cities of California, near a rather large looking library with large, floor to ceiling windows letting in all of the warmth and sunlight outside.

We'd wandered for a few minutes, trying to figure out something that we could do to pass the time to when we'd return when Valshe stopped in her tracks "Maybe we should just go somewhere else huh? I doubt there would be anything fun to do in a dinky little town like this…" she fidgeted slightly, eyes roaming the streets alertly, causing Damien and I to exchange suspicious glances.

"Why do you want to leave so badly?" Damien asked, smiling slyly at her "I just…don't want to be here" she replied, taking a few steps back "Oh, I get it! You live somewhere around here don't you?" he prodded, smile spreading into a grin.

Valshe turned away, lips drawn, eyes narrowed, before she nodded hesitantly "We're not going" she added when she saw the interest in both of our eyes, and turned back to the library, motioning for us to follow her.

She led us to the back of the library, where a dirt path was stomped out and a pond was visible in the middle of it, crystal clear and surrounded by all sorts of plants and animals.

All of a sudden, she stopped under a huge, flourishing pine tree, gripping one of the low branches with her smooth hands before hoisting herself onto it and climbing deftly up to the middle of it, where the branches parted and you could see the whole lake, plus the rest of the city behind it.

Damien and I Shaded and spread our wings, leaping gracefully into the air and landing on branches near hers before neatly folding them back up and fazing into the visibility of the humans once more.

"This is my spot" she explained when we made ourselves comfortable "I always come up here when I need to think about things, or when I want to be alone, but I guess it doesn't really matter if you guys are up here of not" she continued, her eyes sleepy looking and leaning up against the wide trunk of the tree while the wind rustled her light hair and the sunlight made her golden eyes glitter.

I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair slowly "Valshe…?" I murmured almost silently, and she turned her head the tiniest bit to face me "Mhmm?" she questioned, looking as if she was trying to get a handle on what I might be trying to do "I'm sorry" I managed to get out "I'm sorry I kept those things from you; I just didn't want you to worry about something that might not even be happening" I blurted, feeling unbelievably lame until the smallest smile crept across her pink lips and she nodded, turning to look at me more fully.

"It's fine" she replied "I know you were just trying to look out for me, but I hate how all of you keep these things from me; I should be entitled to know everything you guys find out about me, but for whatever reason, maybe you don't think I can handle it, or whatever, no one ever does, and that makes me feel like I'm nothing more that a piece on a chess board to you all…I just want you to talk to me is all, okay?" she finished, turning from me to Damien, and when we both nodded, her smile widened "We'll try" I told her quietly "No promises" added Damien before a low rumble echoed through the sky.

The three of us looked up just in time for a fat raindrop to fall and land right under Valshe's eye, making it look like a tear was falling down her smooth cheek, and for whatever reason, the thought made my heart wrench.

Why should I care if she gets upset?

I looked back at the lake and thought about this for a bit; love was out of the question because there was no way I'd fall for a human, right? Because I cared for her in some way obviously…I cared for Damien too; he was like an older brother to me, so maybe it was the same way with her? I didn't want to see her upset because she was important to me; like a friend, not a lover. That was it wasn't it?

Wasn't it?

Shaking my head to clear the useless thoughts, I glanced back over at them to find Damien was watching me as well, with what seemed like concern. But it was only there for a split second, as his face crinkled into a grin when he noticed me looking.

"Well, as great as this is, I'm bored and it's going to rain soon, so I vote we go find something to do _inside_, okay?" he quipped, glaring up at the sky, which was swiftly pelting rain and gusty wind in our faces, leaving us shivering in the abrupt cold, so we both nodded in agreement.

Valshe began to adjust herself so she would be able to scoot back down the tree to the ground and Damien and I shared an exasperated look "Hey Valshe? Tell me, have you ever flown before?" Damien asked, pulling himself up on one of the many large branches and grinning down at her. "Flown? Why would I…" she paused, her eyes wide "Ahaha, very funny guys, it's not gonna happen" she said, dropping herself down to the next branch.

Damien and I grinned at each other "That's what you think!" I replied, grabbing one of her arms while Damien grabbed the other and we jumped from the huge pine to let the wind claim us once more.

Valshe, realizing that if she were to struggle, we might drop her, gripped our arms tightly and curled her legs closer to her, scrunching her eyes closed in fear before a tiny scream of shock left her lips.

"It's not that bad Valshe! Just open your eyes, it's not like we'd drop you or anything…" I told her, and she shook her head "I hate this!" she screamed, biting her lip hard "Come on Valshe, we won't let anything happen to you" Damien laughed, spreading his wings so he was gliding.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and tried to take everything in, and a nervous giggle escaped her throat "See? Its fun isn't it?" I asked her and she nodded enthusiastically, smiling wide "So this is why you guys like it so much" she commented, tipping her head back with a laugh.

Damien and I rolled our eyes and laughed as well, deciding that we should probably land before a human wonders what a girl is doing floating through the air.

Once back on the ground, we ran to a small store nearby and walked through the sliding glass doors graciously, sighing happily as the heat hit our cold, damp bodies.

I shook my head quickly, sending droplets of water spraying out everywhere and causing D to glare half heartedly at me "Gee, thanks Xander, as if we weren't wet enough already" he told me sarcastically "Anytime, D" I replied, just as dramatically, causing Valshe to giggle at our childishness.

Walking a little farther into the building, still talking happily with each other, a group of teens around Valshe's age stopped what they were doing near a rack of clothes to our left and watched us for a minute.

"Valshe? Valshe? Omigod guys, it's Valshe!" one of the girls squealed, running over to us and tackling Valshe in a relieved hug "Where have you been? We thought you like, died, you know, since you've been gone for what, a week?" she chattered while Valshe grinned and nodded at her. "I know! I've just been sooo busy lately! How've you all been?" she was sucked into their group faster than the rain falling outside, leaving D and I standing dumbstruck on the sidelines.

There was a lot of laughing, and a lot of playfulness, each of them taking turns giving her enthusiastic hugs while talking a mile a minute. Damien and I exchanged glances and turned to leave, figuring we would give her a bit of space and avoid the utter chaos the group was emitting before Valshe and the girl ran up to us "Come on, you have to meet everyone!" Valshe pleaded, grabbing both our hands and pulling us into the fray.

It was noisy and people were very touchy feely; I must've forgot how humans had to have physical contact just as much as they needed the mental, and we had somehow stuffed ten teenagers total into a small corner in an even smaller shop.

Once everyone calmed down a bit, we were greeted by the four girls in the group (five including Valshe) Tia, a short, twig thin girl with blonde and black hair that fell just under her ribs was very loud and hugged both of us tightly, talking so fast that we could barely make out what in the world she was saying.

Leanne was the tallest girl there and had more of an hourglass shape with wavy shoulder length light brown hair and gave us each a quick hug and thanked us for 'looking out for our poor little Valshe~!' before moving close to Tia and laughing giddily with her.

The third girl was quieter, told us her name was Emily, "but everyone calls her Emmy!" interrupted Tia; and she had loosely curled blonde hair down to about her shoulders, thin glasses that rested lightly on her straight nose, was medium height and about average weight, and after a little hesitation, and some playful remarks by D, she gave us both a shy hug.

Finally we reached the girl who still had yet to leave Valshe's side; she proudly announced that her name was Luka 'and you'd better not forget it!', her hair was the same color black as mine and only went down to about her chin, but was perfectly straight, she was almost the exact same height and weight as Valshe and she flung herself on us much the same way she had with Valshe.

After Luka was done with her borderline assault and re-glued herself to Valshe, she cleared her throat "This is my best friend, okay? If I ever find out that either of you upset her or make her cry, I'll tie you to a chair and castrate you!" she declared obnoxiously, before turning us to the three boys in the group.

The first boy was my height, looked like he was pretty athletic, had black hair that was just starting to cover his eyes, and told us that he was Lukas older brother, Reid and put out his fist for us to bump.

After Reid was a virtually silent boy with black hair and caramel brown eyes, was about half an inch shorter than me and had a somewhat girlish figure, introducing himself as Grey before smoothly putting his hand out.

Lastly was Sam who informed us he was Tia's boyfriend and that he was sure we'd be great bros. He had short brown hair that had been gelled so it would stick up in the front, was a little taller than me and was just starting to put on some noticeable muscle.

He greeted us by playfully, but roughly punching us both in the shoulder, first Damien then me and I couldn't stop the pained hiss that slipped from my lips. "Aw, that hurt man? Sorry 'bout that!" he apologized with a grin "Sam, look what you did! He's bleeding!" Reid exclaimed and I groaned in annoyance "Oh no! Are you alright? What happened?" Leanne asked, moving to look with the other girls.

I was shoved into a changing room with the others (or as many of them that could fit; the door was open for the rest), had my shirt yanked off despite my struggling and denials and I could swear they all gasped simultaneously when they saw the bleeding wound sitting as if to grin on my shoulder.

"Whoa, how'd you do _that_? Holy battle scars bro!" Sam commented with interest, leaning in to get a better look "I uhh, got into a fight" I lied, watching as Luka took my shirt and began ripping it into strips before she and Valshe approached and began to wrap them under my arm and around my shoulder "That must'a been some fight; I'm surprised none of us heard about it!" Reid added, handing me a large black hoodie from his backpack, which I put on when the girls were done poking at my shoulder.

After that was dealt with, we were approached by an angry store clerk who told us that we were making too much of a scene and had to leave, so we left quickly, the guys with defiant smirks on their faces while the girls laughed in embarrassment.

Damien fell into step beside Luka, who was near the front of the group; his seductive little smile spread on his features "It was so nice of you to take care of Xander like that Luka!" he complimented smoothly, moving to put his arms around her shoulders while she giggled.

Then Reid came up behind the two with eyes spelling murder.

He cleared his throat and they turned around, Luka scooting out from under Damien's arm, with a slightly guilty smile, Damien still smiling like he had been five seconds before. "That's my sister you know" he growled, hands clenched at his sides "I do know that; and I hope you know that I'll hit on her anyways" he returned with a mischievous grin "But don't worry, it's just for fun seeing as how she's probably too young for me" he added, stepping around Reid and back over to where I was walking by Sam and Grey.

Luka cocked her head to the side and glanced at Valshe "How old _are_ you two anyways?" she asked, frowning slightly at the mention of Damien being older than the rest of us "Nineteen" he stated smoothly.

Luka seemed to blanch at this; her mouth dropped slightly and her eyes widened "How old are you?" she asked again, brow wrinkling in concentration. "Like I said, I'm nineteen; you?" he repeated with a pleased grin "I'm sixteen…" she replied, causing the rest of the group to chatter excitedly amongst themselves at their discovery "In other words, my sister is off limits to you" Reid informed him smugly. Damien shrugged; age never really mattered to him as long as it wasn't a huge gap "Can't blame me for trying" he sighed, unfazed as usual by the turn of events.

"What about you, Xander? How old are you?" Luka asked, her eyes narrowed at me "I'll be eighteen in a few weeks" I replied, giving her a confused look when she turned to Valshe and whispered something in her ear.

We wandered for a little while, as the rain was starting to lighten up and the day was starting to become nicer, with the sun just starting to peek through a tiny gap in the clouds, causing the puddles to give a dull gleam as their surfaces were rippled by droplets that were becoming less and less frequent.

The people, now noticing that the weather was taking a turn for the better opened their windows and poked their heads out of their doors while younger children in their summer clothes jumped and splashed through puddles, giggling happily; oblivious to any existence but their own.

Now that the light was starting to spill through the clouds, I started to notice more and more about the town. It was small without being stifling, but not so big that no one knew each other. The houses and apartments were old, their paint dulling enough to make it look lived in, some with small, lavish gardens in the front or sides, while others had large trees with tire swings or other things that helped to describe the inhabitants of them the slightest bit.

Also, it wasn't dead; there was so much going on everywhere, a couple holding hands while they walked down the street together, a group of friends laughing under an umbrella at a small coffee shop, a mother and her child arguing about why they can't eat out tonight.

So, this was where Valshe grew up then? I found myself wondering as I took everything in with a small smile; it was so different from the life I was used to, where no one ever had time to really look at anything, and even when they did, they didn't care to.

After we'd eaten lunch at a fast food restaurant filled with other teens and their friends most of the people in the group had to either get home or had some other activity they had to go to and eventually we decided it would be best if we just split up.

"Well, it was fun, huh guys? Nice to see you're finally back Valshe!" Leanne called as she walked away with Emmy in tow, both waving until they turned a street corner and were out of sight.

Tia and Sam were the next two to leave, announcing that they were heading back over to Sam's house before Tia had to go to her cheerleading practice "Nice meeting you guys; sorry again 'bout the shoulder Xander, I swear I don't know my own strength sometimes" Sam laughed, and Tia shook her head with a giggle "Strength? You? I never would've thought!" she teased, playfully smacking his arm "Bye everyone! See you tomorrow!" she yelled before heading opposite the direction the others had gone.

Last to go were Reid, Grey and Luka, whom Valshe had to give hugs with long drawn out goodbyes and promises that they'd see each other soon "You two better look out for her, you hear? I will make good on that threat I made earlier~!" she told us in a singsong voice before running to catch up with the boys who were already half a block ahead of her.

This left Damien, Valshe and I standing in the same spot we'd started in; in front of the library, debating on what to do for the next few hours before we had to head back.

"We could just head back now" Valshe suggested; in a hurry to leave now that her friends had gone "But it's only two thirty" I commented "They probably wouldn't be too pleased with us" this apparently warranted a scoff from Damien "Who cares if they're 'pleased' with us or not? Either way, I don't want to go back now" he yawned, stretching his arms high above his head.

We were left at a stand-still, silent for a few minutes before Damien snapped and brought us out of our thoughts "I know" he began mischievously "Let's go see what Valshe's house looks like" he suggested with a grin that could only be described as devilish.

At the mention of going home Valshe's face paled, and she drew back cautiously "Why my house? It's no fun over there" she insisted "Besides, my mom is probably going to flip out if I've been gone for a week and suddenly show up on her doorstep with two boys she doesn't even know!" she cried, hands fisting at the material of her shirt.

"It can't be that bad" I retorted, putting my hand on her shoulder reassuringly "Yeah, and it's not like there's anything else to do at this time of day…" Damien grumbled, frowning slightly "No!" she whined, her voice taking on a childish tone, and she shifted her weight to one leg, crossed her arms over her chest, and put on a slight pout to show that she'd made up her mind and wasn't about to be moved.

Damien and I sighed in unison, both of us knowing it would be useless to argue with her when she was acting like this.

"Maybe we could just walk by it?" I half pleaded, trying my best to look desperate, and the hard set look in her eyes softened just the tiniest little bit. She sighed, and looked away from me abstinently, glancing back out of the corner of her eyes before frowning and muttering something about being childish.

Not being one to sit on the sidelines, Damien stepped up beside me and made the same face "Come on Valshe, we're bored~! You won't even let us walk by…?" he whimpered, his bottom lip just barely sticking out, and you could almost feel her reaching her breaking point.

There was more grumbling, and a few glares tossed in, but we didn't quit; we'd already taken it upon ourselves to beat her at her own game "Would you cut it out? You two are how old now?" she snipped, spinning angrily to face us.

"Seventeen" "Nineteen" we replied without hesitation before going back to our previous charade. Valshe tapped her foot a few times, as if she were seriously mulling it over and finally threw her hands in the air "Fine! But we're walking across the street and you two are going to walk on my right side so if my mom's outside she doesn't see me, _and_" she ranted, beginning to guide us towards her house in a quick, agitated rhythm "Just shut up, we get it!" Damien cut in with an exaggerated roll of his lavender shaded eyes, before grinning at her "Really, what're we gonna do? If they find you, we'll be in just as much trouble as you are, plus it would make it a heck of a lot harder to get you back" he stated, shrugging nonchalantly.

I laughed in amusement when Valshe smiled shyly and thanked Damien for 'watching out' for her and Damien paused, giving her a look of mock horror "Maybe you're not so bad after all" she added with an innocent smile, which made his face contort into one of confusion and slight shock "Look, I know I'm great and all, but I think of you as more of a sister, and I've never been into the whole 'incest' thing…" he teased and jumped back when she swung a light hearted punch at him.

We continued down the roughly paved streets, laughing the one time Valshe tripped on a fairly deep pot hole near the side of the road before she slowed down and eventually came to a stop "It's the next street up…" she informed us, suddenly becoming very quiet.

She cowered behind us as we made our way down the streets, looking around frantically for anyone who might recognize her, and jumping at the littlest sounds. "What're you so scared of? It's your house" Damien quipped, walking slowly and fluidly down the beaten up road with a bemused smirk "I already told you; I've been gone for a week without so much as a word of where I've been and now I might be caught and she'll kill…" she paused when Damien stared at her in concern "Mentally kill me!" she corrected herself, sighing as Damien's face smoothed.

We'd made it a little more than halfway down the street when Valshe stopped and half pointed at a single level grey-blue house with white trim and an elegant looking white doorway with circular frosted glass panes, a shiny cobalt blue Corvette convertible sat in the driveway with the trunk open and grocery bags inside it.

Noticing this, Valshe picked up the pace a bit more, so she was almost jogging away from the house, making it around the corner to the next street when the front door opened and a beautiful woman with pale blonde hair and sharp crystal blue eyes stepped through the door, heading over to the car and picking up two bags at once, struggling slightly as she made her way back to the house.

The woman had made it about halfway back to the house when one of the bags began to tip precariously in her arms. Rushing over to help her, I caught the bag just as it was about to fall and pulled the bag into my own arms with a disarming smile.

"Need some help?" I asked, and she nodded gratefully, continuing her way up the drive with a worn smile. Damien came up behind us, holding two bags, and the woman glanced back at the car to find the trunk shut up tight and beamed at us "How kind of you both" she complimented, stepping through the door to the house, indicating for us to follow.

The inside of the house was open, filled with natural light from the multiple windows in the back that faced the lake and forest by the library we'd been at earlier. It was organized to a point, but it didn't look too clean. Lived in I suppose.

The carpets were a lush cream color and the walls of the living room were a light tan, pictures and paintings covering each of the four walls and an oak coffee table set up in front of a fading off white couch and love seat set.

There was a medium sized flat screen TV against the far wall, hanging over a small glass entertainment center, where the TV box, a bluray player and random picture frames and other knickknacks were strewn across the top of it.

Damien and I entered the kitchen which had white tile floors, white walls and mostly black or sterling silver appliances. Dropping the groceries onto the countertop with the rest of them, we watched as she busily flitted around the room, pushing things up into shelves or arranging them neatly in the refrigerator.

She finished quickly and guided us through a small dining room and into a porch giving us a direct view of the lake and woods behind the house, where we sat on cushy lawn chairs around a glass table with a huge umbrella sticking out of the middle of it. "Would either of you like something to drink?" she inquired with a sweet smile "Alright" we agreed easily.

"Let's see…we have water, milk, iced tea, and coffee" she listed off politely "Oh, and if you'd like, I made cookies yesterday if you'd like some of those" she added thoughtfully, waiting patiently for our responses.

We both told her we'd just have some water, and when she went back into the house, we both turned to each other "_That__'__s_ Valshe's mom? I really don't understand why she doesn't want to come back" Damien exclaimed, jerking a thumb towards the kitchen window "I think she's just being hospitable; she'd probably be pretty mad if Valshe just showed up on the doorstep after going missing for a week" I replied, twisting a frayed piece of wicker from the arm of the chair in my fingers.

Shaking his head, he rested his cheek on his hand "She's probably going to be pissed you know" he chuckled, and I laughed with him "Probably, but it's not like we planned for this to happen" I said, sitting back in the comfortable chair.

When Valshe's mom returned, she held a tray of cookies in her hands, both of our glasses balancing on them as well as a glass of iced tea for herself. She set them down fluidly in front of us before taking a seat at the foot of the table, facing both of us.

"So" she began, taking a dainty sip of her tea "What are you're names?" she asked, leaning back and smoothing her deep purple shirt out slowly "My name is Damien Ravi" Damien told her with an innocent smile "Xander Costello" I replied, mimicking his expression easily.

She nodded "I see…thank you for helping me with the groceries by the way" she thanked us, reaching to grab a cookie from the tray "Don't you have anyone here to help you with them?" Damien inquired slyly "Surely a woman as beautiful as yourself has a husband, or at least a child to help you out, right?"

At this she became very quiet and knotted her hands in her lap, looking for the entire world like Valshe when she became upset "I have a daughter…maybe you know her? Her name is Valshe" she replied hopefully, her eyes shining dully in the mid afternoon sunlight "Yeah, we know her" I told her, biting into a delicious peanut butter cookie "She hasn't been around lately though…" I continued, looking away with a frown "It's been about a week now hasn't it? Is she sick or something?" Damien inquired, face written with fake concern.

It was then that she broke; a few fat tears rolled down her face and she shrugged helplessly "I don't know" she confessed shakily "She's been gone for a week and I haven't heard anything…I called the police to put her in as a missing child but nothing's come up yet" she wept and dabbed at one of the tears rolling down her cheek.

"I'm sorry" she murmured after a while, wiping her eyes and straightening up "I'm just so worried about her" she sniffled, and stood up "And I'm sure you boys have better things to be doing than listening to my problems don't you? Thanks for listening like that though" she smiled at us and stood up, clearing the table and pushing in her chair.

We nodded and stood up as well "We do have to leave but…we'll keep an eye out for her okay? I'm sure she's fine; Valshe is a smart girl" I assured her with a smile "Yeah, she'll be back before you know it!" Damien exclaimed with a grin "Thanks for the drinks" he continued "And the cookies" I added "Hope your day goes a little better Miss Marina" we told her, exiting out the side gate while she waved behind us.

That had taken a bit more time than we'd though it would; it was almost a half hour from when we'd walked by the house in the first place, and we couldn't find Valshe anywhere near the house.

It figured though; she hadn't wanted to come back in the first place, so it made sense that she didn't stick around after we'd gone missing. "We could check by the tree I guess" Damien suggested, so we headed back towards the library.

Naturally, she was there, sitting on the exact same branch she had been when we'd first been up there, looking forlornly out at the scene before her "Hey Valshe! Time to go!" I called to her, and I watched as she looked down at me with a bored expression before nodding and nimbly climbing down.

When her feet were safely on the ground again, she gave us both an impatient look "What happened to 'just walking by' huh?" she accused giving an impatient scoff "It's not like we meant for her to almost drop her groceries all over the place" Damien shot back without missing a beat.

We'd all agreed that we'd need to find somewhere away from the eyes of the people to summon up a Portal and head back up to Heaven, and spent almost a good hour wandering around trying to find somewhere, as it seemed that everywhere we went, someone or another was always right there.

Eventually we found ourselves standing in front of an old abandoned parking structure, labeled for demolition a day or so later and entered hastily, jogging up to about the third level before stopping right in the middle "Ready?" Damien asked us, drawing his Oni with a tired smile. We both nodded and gave the place one last scour before agreeing it was safe enough to go.

By the time we'd made it back to the house (mansion) it was about five fifteen and we'd been locked out. Knocking impatiently at the door, I was just about to turn and make a comment to D about breaking in when the door opened and my insides coiled into rage, my eyes narrowing accusingly.

Before anyone could stop me, before the figure had any time to wipe that smug smirk off their face, I had them pressed firmly into a wall, and a knife pressed tightly to their throat while my wings flared out in barely held back rage. "Why the Heaven are you here?" I demanded savagely, clenching my teeth together.

"Why hello there Xander, you've grown since I last saw you. Oh, you aren't actually going to kill me now, are you? I'd hope not. Not in front of my own child at least"

A/N: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Cliff hangers, just so you can all fume angrilly and hate me! I realize this chapter is really long and slightly boring, but I felt the need to get that last bit on this chapter and couldn't really find a place to cut it into two so...I hope it doesn't bother you all too much. I would've had this up a while ago, but for some reason FF wasn't letting me upload anything on the document manager...meh, it'd fixed so I don't mind. Until next time, spread amongst friends, review, and unlike Xander, please do not pull knives on people...even if they might possibly deserve it.


	11. A Secret Letter

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T, because Xander is a violent, angsty Little Demon

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

I tightened my grip on the handle, my already white knuckles turning even whiter. His child…? I risked glancing around the room quickly and caught Nate standing with a shocked expression at the top of the stairs.

We locked gazes for a minute or so before I noticed that Valshe was yelling at me and was attempting unsuccessfully to pull my arm back and away from the visitor.

My glare at that point was fiery and both tension and adrenaline were high, but I pulled away with a hateful scoff, stomping over to where Damien stood watching me intently. "I have to go" I snapped out, moving to shove the doors back open, but was held back by a powerful barrier that appeared, blocking off my path.

"Little Demon, that is absolutely no way to treat such an esteemed guest" Malachi scolded lightly from the kitchen door, his face unreadable. I felt my patience slipping away faster and faster by the second, and whipped around to face him, fully prepared to force him to bring that barrier down if I had to.

"Do you even know who he is? What he did? There's no way I'm treating him with even the smallest shred of respect!" I snarled, feeling my wings tense and spread in my furious rant.

Malachi nodded then, his face the picture of concern; it made me want to claw his eyes out. "I do know who he is Little Demon; this is my friend and partner, Nigathiel…I also know" he paused and glanced at Nigathiel out of the corner of his eyes, I was almost sure I saw the slightest bit of guilt in his now heavily guarded eyes "I also know what he did to you and your family…but while you are here you will start no conflict or I will be forced to intervene; do you understand, Xander?" he ordered seriously, and I noticed that it was one of the first times he had ever used my name and not 'Little Demon'.

Nodding, I tried to pay more attention to the sharp pain in my cheek where I had bit into part of it and blood was now mixing with the saliva to create a light metallic taste in my mouth. "You have my thanks. Now, dinner will be happening shortly and I wish for everyone to get ready and head to the dining room in ten minutes" he informed us, his small, angelic smile back on his face before he spun around and disappeared back into the kitchen.

Damien took hold of my uninjured shoulder and steered me towards my room, shutting the door silently behind me. He sat me down on the bed and I slammed my fist into the bedside table, surprised that it didn't shatter into pieces "I've been living with his son" I grumbled in a strangled voice and noticed that Damien simply shrugged in response with an almost guilty look on his face.

"You knew…" I whispered as the realization hit me. He's probably known the whole time and hadn't even mentioned it to me "You knew!" I yelled accusingly at him and he flinched slightly before nodding forlornly.

"That's why I was telling you not to get too close to him or that Angel; I knew if you found out, you'd snap" he explained quietly, and I could sense him trying to calm me. "So what?" I demanded, practically shouting now "I was this close D! This close to finally giving him what he deserves! This close to finally…finally…" I choked on my own voice and felt unshed tears burning my eyes before slumping down with my head in my hands.

I hadn't noticed that Valshe had slipped into the room until she cleared her throat and I snapped my head up with a glare, but she kept her frown on her face and fixed her empty golden gaze on me.

Damien moved to the door where Valshe still stood and after sharing a few hushed words that I didn't care to hear, they both exited quickly enough.

Now I realized how oblivious I'd been.

I should've noticed the similarities before! I'd had the dream often enough that the features of both mine and my fathers murderer were etched flawlessly into my mind.

Just this morning I had been laughing and joking around with Nate, I should've known he was the enemy the whole time! I should've, for once in my life, listened to Damien's warnings about how dangerous it was to get close to a holy Ethereal.

So stupid!

There was no way I was going down to eat with _them_, the high and mighty Angels and the two Nephilim twins, who could never do any wrong.

So stupid!

My thoughts were quickly becoming darker and darker, my anger flaring up again at my naïveté. Aside from a Slaughter demon like Saurian had been, a Ravager demon was not something to be trifled with, and sinister plots were already beginning to form in my head.

So stupid!

I could do it; I had, after all, brought my Oni with me, which would make it simple to sneak into his room in the night and, _slice!_ I could be done with him and the guilt, the grief, the anger that'd been eating at me all these years.

So stupid!

Why should it matter that Malachi told me not to? Since when have I ever taken orders from an Angel? I might as well get rid of him, as well as the other two while I was at it; after all, "The fewer there are up there, the better we are down here" is what Damien had always told me.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

It was a good enough plan, I supposed, but could I do it?

Why couldn't I?

Maybe the better question would be why shouldn't I?

I was grinning by the time Damien came back in and shut the door silently behind him "What's with that face? You're obviously planning something" he commented coolly, taking a seat beside me on the edge of the bed. "What'd Valshe want?" I asked instead, the Cheshire cat grin fading into a satisfied smirk "Mmm…she doesn't quite understand the whole act first, ask questions later aspect of being a Demon" he replied after a moment.

Nodding, I laid my head back against the wall "Do you have my Oni in your bag?" I continued, ignoring the questioning look he tossed at me out of the corner of his eyes "Yeah…" he hesitated in confusion.

"Good. Oh yeah, I'm not going to dinner" I announced "No way I'm going to deal with him" I growled, and Damien nodded "That's fine" he told me, standing up and running his hand through his blonde hair "I'll come back up later then…" he said, and left again.

I decided I needed a nap, but I knew I wouldn't even be able to close my eyes with Nigathiel downstairs. Still, I lifted the comforter, and slid myself under it, crossing my arms behind my head, and losing myself in thought once more.

By the time my door opened again, I'd switched positions and was facing the wall silently, and whoever it was probably thought that I was sleeping "Malachi wants you to come downstairs" a familiar, yet indifferent voice informed me bleakly; Nate.

When I didn't get up, I heard him cross the room to where I lay in the bed and gently shake my shoulder "Hey, time to get up…" he murmured, and I swiftly brushed his hand away "Not happening, Nephil" I snapped, clenching my teeth together, and he stepped away looking surprised.

Turning his face to the window and the warm light filtering in from outside it, he took a deep breath, and held it for a while, before it finally made a soundless escape out his mouth "Would you rather go take another walk? I know how to get around Malachi's barrier" he suggested, fidgeting with his fingers in lack of something to do.

Take a walk? It was almost laughable that he'd even think to invite me to go anywhere with him. Shouldn't he be mad at me as well? After all, I was right about to kill his father with him standing right there on the staircase.

"I'm not mad at you if that's what you're worried about" he sighed, as if to read my mind "And I know what happened between our families…my father isn't exactly the best person in the world, and he only comes around once in a while, so…" he paused, probably considering if this was something he should tell me. "I don't know…I've always thought of Malachi as more of a father figure than him" he confided with a slightly pained smirk and a side glance my way.

Did he expect me to feel sorry for him?

Words failed me at the moment, so I propped myself up against the wall and watched him expectantly.

This kid certainly was interesting though; typically Nephilim were loyal to their kind, didn't give Demons and Under Dwellers a second thought, much less did they try to keep on such good terms with them.

He cleared his throat "You're planning on killing him aren't you? I bet you'll kill all of us here, right? Probably tonight, when we go to sleep" he informed me, moving so he was facing me again; I didn't have to feign the look of surprise that crept onto my face, and we both knew it.

"Why would you think that?" I inquired, trying the best I could to sound innocent and unsuspecting. He laughed. "Oh, I don't think you are; I _know_ you are" he chuckled, looking amused, and very pleased with himself, "Alright, so you got me" I admitted, and his smile grew a bit wider "Are you going to try to stop me?" I asked, and the rooms false air of humor disappeared, replaced with a heavier, more serious one.

Another long pause followed by a shrug "Do what you want; but I won't just let you get away with it; I'm sure you'll regret it later" he replied, his face taking on a determined sort of challenge.

This time I did laugh "Why would I regret it? After what he did, it's the least he deserves!" I exclaimed, getting up off the bed and moving to stand next to him by the window "Well, let's not find out if you will then…do you want to go or not?" he asked again, raising a slim eye brow expectantly.

No, as a matter of fact, I didn't, but I wasn't about to tell him that, or he'd drag me downstairs to eat with the rest of them.

I scoffed with a small roll of my deep blue eyes "It's not like I have anything better to do anyways" I replied, watching as he threw the window open and put his hand lightly against the now invisible barrier, unfurled his wings and whispered a single word, too low for me to hear, let alone understand, and a hole the size of the window opened up, making the rest shiver and fade in rainbows of color, much like a bubble.

He climbed onto the window ledge and jumped, letting his wings catch the air and carry him up, up, up.

Following suit, I spread my wings fluidly and sped over to where Nate now hovered high above the clouds, just out of sight of my prison below. "Some walk this is huh?" I commented, and he laughed, flipping over backwards in near ecstasy "Flying is better than any walk and you know it" he pointed out, letting himself drift through a particularly white cloud and coming out the other side with damp clothes and hair.

Flying _was_ better than any walk, that was for sure, and the skies over Heaven were a lot clearer than they were back in the Under Realms. For the humans, it would be like comparing the sky in the big cities of New York or California to a small farm town in Minnesota, or Wisconsin; the differences were like night and day.

At the same time, flying with him was more than annoying.

I didn't want to be involved with any part of the family that ruined my life more than once, even if they were naive and couldn't hold a grudge like Nate. In a way, he was almost like that adoring little brother some people have; always looking up to the big brother, as if he could do no wrong.

Neither of us was tired yet; flying was easy for us, like second nature, but Nate landed on the roof, bent over as if he were in serious pain, so despite my current hatred for his father, I let myself descend and join him on top of the giant house.

The closer I got to him, the more I noticed how pale he was, and that he was clutching at his side, fingers digging into his back roughly "Hey, what's wrong with you?" I asked hesitantly, eyes narrowing suspiciously "I…ugh…it's just a…a scrape" he stammered, straightening up and shrugging with a sheepish little smile.

What he hadn't noticed, was that when he took his hand off of his shirt, a spreading red stain was soaking into his shirt "You know…" I began, wrinkling my nose at the too pure scent filling the air around us "You're bleeding" I pointed out, and his eyes widened, his hand flying back to his shirt in surprise.

Backing away from me slowly, he watched me with wary eyes, as if he there was something he'd wanted to say, but instead, his feet reached the edge of the roof, and he let himself tip off, hurtling towards the ground below before extending his wings and landing deftly and lightly on the front steps "I'll talk to you later" he'd told me before he'd left.

Before I got back down from the roof, I noticed a small white envelope resting exactly where Nate had been standing just moments before. Picking it up, I turned it over and over in my hands, preparing to jump down to give it back to him.

That was until I noticed who it was addressed to.

In gentle, looping cursive was written a single name that sent my head reeling to find a plausible reason for why it said what it did, but simply couldn't.

_Xander Costello._

A/N: Thanks to indescribable music for two more reviews! It's great to know that I have such loyal readers like you, and am glad you'd spend your time reading my story. I have to say, I like how all of the charaters in this story are turning out so far, so it's good to know others are taking to them as well!

This chapter was pretty uhmmm...dramatic maybe? I think I might've actually added too much important stuff in this chapter, but I kinda cut it off again, so I suppose it's alright. Like the chapter 'The Thoughts of Valshe', the next chapter is another one that you don't have to read, and it's in Nates POV this time. Until next time, please review, and please, my lovely readers, don't try to fly at home; I know from exerience that it always ends badly.


	12. Through the Eyes of Nate

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy

I could remember when my father told me I had a brother. It was a few months after my mother had passed on; I'd been 7 years old and didn't have Rey with me just yet. He'd sat me down on one of the cozy veranda chairs facing the glistening blue lake just off of the courtyard and the immense greenery all around it. Of course, the only reason he'd even told me in the first place was because my mother had told him I should know.

She'd even given me a message for him and told me that I had to find him.

Though I was by all means allowed to read the letter, I still hadn't and didn't really plan to anytime soon; I really didn't think I wanted to know anything more about what happened with them.

From what I'd been told by my father and Malachi, my father had been assigned to be my mothers Guardian for a long time; almost 14 years when she'd died.

For a time, she'd fallen deeply in love with a human male; he was her everything and vise versa, so they got married and they has a son only a year or so older than I.

'Everything' didn't last for very long.

They'd been married for no more than a year when she started to realize how quickly her partner was changing; how malicious and violent he'd become. It was around then that she'd found out he'd recently started using, and dealing on top of that.

It became too much for her to handle, and it was the last straw when he hit her one night after he'd come home from 'work', so she filed for a divorce and left the human man.

She was forced to leave her son with him.

Inside, she was torn to pieces; she'd fought and fought for custody, but since she had no proof of any sort of abuse, nor did she have any money or a place to stay, they'd let him keep it instead.

My mom had been able to see my dad for a long time before she'd met her ex-husband, and they frequently talked, especially now that her life had been pulled out from under her feet.

Little by little, they learned more about each other, and found that, try as they might, they were drawn to each other like magnets; they'd fallen in love, and had me after he'd 'boldly announced his love for her under a star-sprinkled night sky'.

Or something along those lines anyways.

Not once had either of them ever mentioned my brother to me while she'd been alive; the cuts she bore from the traumatic event was still too deep for her to discuss with the prying mind of another child.

The loss of her first son.

A day didn't go by when she didn't worry about what happened to him; when she didn't regret that she hadn't fought for him harder, or so my father told me.

Just a week before she died though, my father decided to check up on the boy, as a sort of present for my mom, and as she lay on her death bed, he whispered to her the good news; her beloved first born was alright! She was overjoyed with the findings he presented her with, and got to work on the letter I was now supposed to give to him.

However…my father had lied when he'd told her that the boy had been alright, as that day, he'd committed a horrifying deed to an undeserving boy and his unsuspecting father, but she didn't know that then.

I never thought that I'd ever actually meet my brother, let alone have a conversation with him, but now that I had, I was oddly…happy.

He was a good person (even though he'd probably skin me alive if I ever told him he was), and talented in many ways.

At this point, I'm pretty sure he thinks of me as either a huge annoyance, or is neutral for the moment, but I don't really mind it; I like him well enough.

Though I'd had multiple chances, including the one last night, the letter had never made it into his hands, and now probably never will, as I no longer have it either; a slightly worrisome problem I now have.

I slowly wrapped the gauze around my midsection again, after disposing of the older, bloodied one I'd put on the night before, thinking of the consequences of what might happen when another Angel found it somewhere.

Hopefully I would remember where I put it, or I would find it before it fell into someone else's hands and they had a chance to read it, or I'd be in for a whole realms worth of trouble.

Perhaps, in some twisted turn of events, he'd end up being the one to find it, and all I'll have to deal with is explaining "why the Heaven" I hadn't given it to him sooner, then tell him anything else he might want to know.

Wouldn't that be nice?

As opposed to what would most likely happen if another holy Ethereal found it and reported it to a higher-up and I was brought in for interrogations and suspicions.

Something just tells me that the other Angels and Nephilim would be just a little upset if they realized that I was blood-related to a Demon.

A/N: So, you can tell when you're getting really into your story when you start plotting different ways things could happen and jotting down things that sound interesting to put in the story later...durning your classes. This chapter is a pretty big spoiler I guess, but lets just say it's a little treat for reading the chapter you didn't have to read. Until next time, please review, and enjoy the lovely view from Nates house.


	13. My 'Dear' Younger Brother

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

After I finished staring at the lightly beaten up envelope for a good five minutes or so, I sat on the edge of the roof, letting my legs dangle in the air while I slid my finger under the flap and pulled the letter out, but I hesitated unfolding it before stuffing it back into the envelope and slipping it into the back pocket of my jeans.

When I walked back into the house, I nearly collided with Malachi, who gave me a warm smile and rested a hand on my shoulder. "There you are Little Demon, I was wondering where you'd gone off to! Come now, the food is absolutely delicious, and I'm sure you're hungry after such an eventful afternoon" he told me, steering me towards the partially opened dining room door.

I definitely wasn't prepared for all of the people that would be there.

Every chair but mine and Malachi's were filled with holy Ethereals of all sorts, and when we entered the room, each pair of eyes settled on the two of us.

Settled on me, to be more specific.

Malachi greeted everyone we passed with a kind smile as we made our way to our chairs which coincidentally were right beside each other.

The head of the table is where Malachi sat, with Nate on his right side and me on his left. Beside me sat Damien and then Valshe, while Nigathiel sat next to Nate.

I took my seat gingerly, trying my best to avoid looking at Nigathiel so I could at least try to keep my temper in check. They soon started grace while Damien and I rolled our eyes at each other and shifted uncomfortably in our seats.

They hadn't even gotten halfway through when one Angel stopped, cleared his throat and unclasped his hands, letting them fall loosely at his sides.

Some of the others noticed him and stopped as well, and more stopped after them, until the room went silent while we all watched the Angel expectantly. "Brother Mikhail, is something the matter?" Malachi asked, following his gaze to where Damien and I were sitting.

Mikhail pressed his lips into a firm line, looking as if he was thinking carefully about what he would say next "My deepest apologies Malachi, but I feel that we are not properly expressing our love for our Lord if not everyone is offering Him the praise He rightfully deserves" he explained, eyes shifting in between the faces of the everyone there, finally touching on Malachi, and then on us, the two Demon boys.

"Perhaps Mikhail has a point; having two Demons present while we're joining together in our worship of Him may be showing Him that we are falling into temptation…" another Avenging angel woman added, worry written on her fair face.

Once more of the guests began to voice their negative opinions on the matter, and the room grew even noisier, Malachi stood and raised his hand and slowly, the room came back to order "Brothers, Sisters, I'm surprised to find that you'd think this way! Wouldn't our Lord love nothing more than for us to accept others into our homes, no matter who they may be? If we were to turn them away, or worse, force them to believe as we do, only then would He become angry with us, as we are supposed to accept and care for any and all who may need it" Malachi preached, finally taking his seat once more.

The room stayed silent for a while after that, until Nigathiel cleared his throat with a little smirk on his lips. "He may have a point; from what I have heard, these two Demons have been here for quite some time now and have so far caused no trouble for anyone, is that correct?" he inquired, looking around for the hesitant nods of the others sitting along the table.

"If this is so, then I can see no reasons why they shouldn't be allowed to stay with us, even if they don't praise our Lord as we do. Isn't that right, Xander?" he turned to look at me with a calculating grin and raised his long stemmed wine glass in my direction, and I nodded with a forced and unbelievably stiff little smile.

Damien suddenly raised his hand lazily smirking with amusement when Malachi nodded at him to continue "Actually…" he began, leaning back in his chair the slightest bit "This is probably going to be our last night here since we were planning on leaving tomorrow after lunch" he announced, and I could see the relief on some of the guests faces.

Apparently, Damien noticed as well, because he shrugged "Yeah, yeah, don't you worry your holy little heads; we'll stop 'polluting' your perfectly wonderful Heaven with our vile temptations" he commented, resting his cheek on his hand with an easy smile.

After this, grace was finished and dinner passed by slowly as usual; though everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves, many of them even adding Damien and I into the conversations.

Once dinner had finally drawn to a close and people had begun to file out the doors, I took the chance to retreat to my room and shut the door, making sure to lock it behind me.

Taking a seat on the bed and tapping the transparent orb on the bedside table so it lit up the room in an eerie whitish yellow glow, I pulled the letter from earlier that night out of my pocket and smoothed it out in my hands.

It seemed like it was old, even though it wasn't too bad for wear, and hadn't yet been opened when I'd found it.

Sliding the paper out of the envelope, I took a breath and unfolded it carefully in my lap, letting my eyes run across the neat, curving letters.

My sweet Xander,

I realize that you may not know who it is who wrote this quite yet, and I'm afraid you never will. Though you might not believe it, I am your mother, Rosallia Harlow. You never really had the chance to get to know me before you were taken from me by your father, whom I hope has treated you better than he had I over the years you've lived with him. I tried so hard to be able to keep you, but I'm afraid that as you know, that never happened. When I left your father, I was able to fall in love with a man who has been watching over me since I was young, though I'm afraid that will most likely end soon. Anyways, we got married, and the boy who gave you this letter is his and my son, and your brother, Nathaniel. You might not believe me yet, but the man I married, Nigathiel, along with your brother are higher beings. They're Angels! You must think I'm a crazy woman, ranting on about silly things like this, but don't worry; soon you will come to find that the world isn't exactly as normal as it may seem. Even though we never knew each other very well, I have a very big favor to ask of you, okay? Please, even though this is very sudden and probably very hard for you to process right away, please watch over you little brother and try to stick together alright? You two are family, so that's how it should be right? You two may be from different worlds, but you shouldn't let the little things keep you from being happy. That's all I wish for, is you and your brothers happiness. I love you with all of my being, and wish I could've seen you just one more time before I passed on to Heaven, but this is just fine, so long as you are okay.

P.S. Ask Nate or his father about anything you may want to know about me or anything else okay? There's no need to be afraid of them; they're both very understanding.

Your loving mother,

Rosallia Harlow.

I resisted the urge to crumple the letter into a ball and lob it into the

trash can. What the Heaven was this supposed to be? Surely this was just a ploy by those Angels to trick me into trusting them again…right?

It had to be.

After all, my mother had died giving birth to me hadn't she? That's what my father had always told me…and he wouldn't lie about something that important.

Should I even bother getting myself deeper into this by asking the Nephilim about it? As amusing as that might be, I didn't think it would be worth getting caught up in the lies this letter was probably made up of.

But it never hurt to try.

Pushing myself to my feet, I crossed my room in a few long strides and opened the door as silently as I could manage before stepping into the hallway and closing it behind me just as quietly.

Padding my way down the hall to Nate and Rey's bedroom door, I paused just outside it, listening carefully for any indication that a certain someone was inside as well.

He snuck up on me before I had a chance to even knock on the door though.

"Might I ask what you're doing out here at this late hour, Xander? Standing outside my son's bedroom door nonetheless! Hopefully you weren't planning anything reckless…" Nigathiel's voice grated on my nerves, and I whipped around to face him, his lips curved into an amused little smirk.

Bristling, I backed a few steps towards my room, glaring daggers at him all the while "That's none of your business, you…" I held my tongue, not wanting to give him any cause to turn around and make an even bigger scene.

But he didn't seem to want to let it go.

His smirk turned into a grin, and he took a half step towards me. "You…? Did you have something else you wanted to add to that, Xander? It sounded to me like you did…" he pressed, leaning closer to me.

Biting my lip, I shook my head jerkily "Absolutely nothing" I sneered, resisting the urge to spit on him and barricade myself in my room once more.

Surprisingly, he nodded with a little shrug "You know" he commented, closing the distance between us and leaning over so his mouth was inches from my ear, setting me on edge "You really are _just_ like your father" he whispered before pulling away and turning to head back down the hallway.

Pushing off of the wall I'd pressed myself against, I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, jerking on the cloth of his shirt and trapping him against the wall as I had earlier "What the Heaven is that supposed to mean you prick? Like you have any right to talk about him anyways!" I shouted, forgetting the fact that the rest of the household was probably asleep.

Nigathiel scoffed, holding his hands up in a mock surrender "Now, now! Don't wake up everyone else with your yelling! You know I didn't mean that as a bad thing, right? No? Heheh, come on _Costello_, take it down a few notches!" he teased, transferring his nickname for my father to me, sarcasm dripping off of just about every word of his speech.

Behind us, I heard a door open and close before I felt a pair of hands yanking me away from him.

Thinking it was Damien, or maybe Valshe again, I complied, turning my head to explain, but found myself looking at Nate instead, and immediately jumped away from him.

He looked tired, and his hair looked slept on, brown strands twirling and sticking up in every different direction.

Under different circumstances I might've laughed, but at the time, I couldn't find it in me to even crack a smile. "You wanted to talk to me?" he asked, and with a glance over my shoulder at Nigathiel, I nodded "We can talk in my room then. If that's fine with you…" he grumbled, rubbing sleepily at his eyes as he led me back to his room.

Just before he shut the door behind us, he tossed a quick look over his shoulder "Oh, and Dad? Don't tease him so much; you know he doesn't like you" he called to the figure sauntering down the hallway towards the stairs "Will do, Nathaniel" he replied just as Nate shut the door.

He dragged himself across the room and flopped onto his bed, face buried in the pillow for a few moments before he sighed deeply and rolled onto his side, patting the spot next to him for me to sit down.

"So…tomorrow, huh?" he asked, propping his head up with his elbow and watching me intently "I guess so" I confirmed with a shrug "He didn't tell me about it either, but we have been here quite a while, so I guess we might as well" I added, looking around his spacious room for something to watch while we talked.

He'd closed his eyes and looked as though he was close to falling asleep "Huh…" was all he had to say to that.

For a while, we sat in the comfortable quiet of his room, until I figured he'd fallen asleep and moved to stand up "Where are you going?" he questioned, vaulting to a sitting position, suddenly wide awake.

I scoffed with an amused smile and looked down at him on the bed "Move over" I told him, and he scooted over to the other side of the bed despite looking confused.

Lying down beside him, I looked up at the skylight above his bed and crossed my arms easily behind my head "Gross" Nate muttered, making me glance over at him with an eyebrow raised. "You're getting Demon germs all over my bed" he teased with a grin, and I laughed with a roll of my eyes "Shut up! Like I care what you think!" I shot back with a defiant smirk of my own.

Now that I was laying down, one of the pictures on his nightstand caught my eye, made me quiet down and remember just why I'd come in the first place.

In the frame was a woman in her mid-twenties, with straight, jet black hair that fell to just about her shoulders. She had lightly tanned skin and dark blue eyes that seemed to be endless and her mouth was open in a delighted laugh. She was slender, but had slightly wider hips and a golden wedding ring was shining on her finger.

She was chasing a little boy at the beach; most likely the younger version of Nate, who couldn't have been more than three or four from the looks of him.

Both looked like they were very happy.

Nate noticed me looking, and picked up the wooden frame before handing it to me gently "This your mom?" I asked, sliding my finger along the edge of the cool glass that held the photo in place. He nodded with a forlorn smile "She died when I was pretty young…seven maybe?" he informed me fondly, leaning back on the headrest of the bed.

Hesitantly, I pulled the envelope out of my pocket and handed it to him along with the picture, and his eyes widened "Where did you get this?" he demanded, turning it over in his hands with a worried look on his face.

I shrugged, trying to brush it off as nothing, but probably not doing too well "You dropped it earlier" I replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "So you read it…?" he asked quietly, toying idly with the torn flap between his fingers.

"Yeah, it was addressed to me after all" I told him, turning to watch him "Is that real, or not?" I questioned as he began to look a bit hesitant and nervous "Why wouldn't it be?" he finally returned, turning his gaze to mine "You said she died when you were seven" I said, motioning to the picture "And if that's the truth, then why hasn't it been opened yet? If she really entrusted you with this letter, then why hadn't you opened it yet?" I continued, hands clenching into fists.

Nate seemed to be struggling to find an answer for that one, shifting uncomfortably where he sat "I…I just didn't want to, I guess. Mom never really wanted to talk about you because she was so upset over leaving you, so I figured it would be kind of…wrong…" he stammered, handing the letter back to me with a little frown.

He didn't seem like he was lying but…that didn't have to mean anything.

After everything that had happened to me, all because of the holy Ethereals, I was no where near ready to trust what this one had to say, and sighed in frustration, running a hand through my hair impatiently.

"You're lying" I stated simply, trying to ignore the hurt look that flashed through his eyes; it was gone faster than it came. "Oh?" he asked with an almost disappointed smile, letting himself slide further down the bed and resting his head on a pillow "You think so?".

I didn't answer right away; I was too busy trying to figure out what that emotion had been when he'd said it. He almost sounded upset for a minute there. Pulling the letter out of the envelope and holding it up in front of me, I nodded "My mother died giving birth to me" I told him emotionlessly as I bent one of the corners of the page a few times.

Sighing, he set the frame back on the nightstand and shrugged "Or she left your dad when he started to beat her. You know, like he did to you?" he suggested, just the slightest bit of acid in his tone, a smug way of telling me he knew a lot more than he let on to.

Shoving myself into a sitting position, I glared at him fiercely "How…? M-my dad never hit me!" I defended, biting my lip "Yeah he did; our dads used to hang out, remember? He used to tell me that he even hit you when they were over. Threw stuff at you and everything" he informed me as my expression grew more and more guarded.

"What are you getting at?" I hissed, fists quaking and trembling as I clenched them. "I'm just pointing out that your dad might not be as good a person as you made him out to be" he offered calmly "As if yours is any better! It wasn't his fault he was like that…he just…"I trailed off and, no longer able to look at him, turned my gaze to the floor.

The room was silent again; the mood electric, "You shouldn't lie to yourself so much; it doesn't help with your mentality much. If you…" he began, but was interrupted when there was a knock at the bedroom door and Valshe poked her head in. "What're you guys being so noisy for? You know it's like, two thirty in the morning right now, don't you?" she commented, stepping into the room, moving towards the bed and letting the door swing shut behind her.

Nate didn't seem to mind that she had come in, barely even acknowledged that she was there except for when he moved over to make room for her in the bed.

"Anyways, if you didn't believe she was your mom too, then why are you here? Nothing I told you would've changed your mind. Which means that you know what I'm saying is the truth" he stated, not once taking his eyes off of mine as he spoke.

Valshe looked between the two of us with her slim eyebrows raised "Now that you're next to each other, I can see the similarities…did you not believe him before Xander?" she asked with a knowing smile.

I blanched, and looked at her with surprise "She already knew? What the Heaven? Why didn't you tell me?" I watched them as they smiled guiltily at each other before Nate shrugged and Valshe began to twist some of her silvery hair between her fingers "Yeah, she already knew…we talk a lot more than you realize we do" Nate informed me with an amused tone "And you never asked me about it; you've been too busy being moody" Valshe added with a smile "I almost never get to see you anymore!" she exclaimed with a slight pout.

Great, so now my 'friend' and my little brother were teaming up on me.

Wait.

Not my brother! My friend and the Nephilim kid! He wasn't my brother!

But at this point, who was I kidding? I knew my father was abusive, and he had a lot more pride than most people did, so for him to tell his son that his wife and the boy's mother had left him because he'd hit her? It wasn't going to happen.

I suppose it wasn't too bad for Nate to be my brother anyways; it's not like he bothered me that much, it was his…

His brother.

Nate had an older brother, and he hadn't been mentioned in the letter even once, so how would it work out that Nate had an older brother without my 'mom' knowing about it?

"What about Rey?" I questioned, looking up from my clenched hands, catching Nate off guard. "What about him?" he asked, cocking his head to the side the slightest little bit "In the letter, it never mentioned Rey; just you…so how…?" I paused and looked over his face, which had a somewhat satisfied expression on it.

Beside me, Valshe giggled and looked up at Nate "Can I tell him?" she asked excitedly, grinning when Nate nodded his approval.

Confused, I turned my attention to Valshe who was smiling at me intently "Alright, but you can't tell anyone, okay? Not even Damien, got it? This is about your little brother, so you have to keep it hush hush" she told me, face suddenly serious.

My face contorted in disbelief and confusion, but when she stayed serious, I finally sighed defeatedly "Fine, whatever" I replied with a roll of my eyes "Not 'fine, whatever'! This is actually serious, so promise, okay?" she shot back with determination, leaning towards me a little bit. "I promise! Just tell me already!" I exclaimed impatiently, resisting the urge to throw my hands in the air in exasperation.

Apparently satisfied with that, she nodded and crossed her legs, her elbows propped up on her knees with her chin resting on the back of her palms "Alright, so…you know both Nate and Rey, but how much have you been told about them?" she asked quietly, her smooth voice sounding almost melodic, making me wonder for a split second if she got into singing.

"Not much…I mean, Malachi told me some completely cryptic riddle thing one of the first days we were here. Something along the lines of 'even though they're inseparable, they're almost never seen together' or something like that" I told her, mimicking Malachi's prim and proper tone he always used when he was talking to me.

Nate laughed "That's actually about right" he commented with another amused little chuckle, before motioning for Valshe to continue.

"That's really it? Wow, you two really have that secret on lock, don't you?" she laughed to Nate, who nodded with a proud grin "Anyways, If you think about that for a while, you might have a pretty big hint…no? Fine…Nate's the only one mentioned in the letter because Rey hadn't been born yet; Rey is Nate's brother, but…well, he doesn't exactly have his own body." Valshe paused for a moment and twirled her hair between her fingers again.

It must be a nervous habit or something.

My eyes widened as my mind put together the pieces one by one, but I was still filled with disbelief at what Valshe was trying to tell me.

"Rey is an alter personality; Nate has Multiple Personality Disorder"

A/N: indescribable music: I'm glad the characters really stick out to you! I try to put a lot of effort into them, and they're kind of, in a way, living in my head (sometimes I catch myself thinking 'How would :insert character here: react to this? XD) I think we might be coming to fairly close to the climax, so the plot is only going to get better (I hope!) so I really hope you keep reading! You have been a loyal reader from the beginning and I just want you to know that your reviews probably make my day/week when I read them every time because I know that I have a loyal reader. Thank you for sticking by me as I claw my way through this story, and I'm very glad that you like it!

A. Montgomery: Hey! How's your summer going so far? It's good to know that someone who can write as well as you likes my writing and is willing to review it! Like I told Music, reviews make my day/week/whatever! I'll be sure to tag you on fb whenever I put a new chapter up, so you don't have to worry about missing one! And if I were to tell you what may or may not happen (especially with Valshe and the boys!) it would probably ruin quite a bit of the story, so I have to resist the urge to spoil the whole thing and keep writing!I'll get to it eventually! Oh, and I'M REALLY SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO GET THIS CHAPTER UP! I've had a pretty hectic summer so far.

Devil wingz: I just posibly almost peed myself when I got on here and saw that you reviewed my story _**9**_ times! I think I was rolling around on my living room floor squeeling for a good ten minutes or so :laughs:. I'm sorry you hate cliff hangers so much, and that I just keep adding them in. Please bear with my insanity, at least until the end of the book! From what I imagine it being, the view from Nate's house is pretty wonderful. I wish I could go there myself, but that probably won't happen (even though I'm kinda crossing my fingers) I know I haven't had Rey in the story much, but I promise that he pops up a lot more frequently now that Xander knows the whole story. Valshe has also kind of taken a backseat lately too, but as she says in this chapter, Xander's been moody and super busy, so she's bussied herself getting to know the Holy Ethereals a little better! Just so you know, I am NOT AT ALL tired of your reviews! Like I've been telling everyone else, I LOVE reviews, as they make me feel like people are enjoying my writing!

Now, to the actual A/N.  
Dang, that one was long! But then, I haven't written in a while, and I think I'd rather write longer chapters than shorter ones. I realize I have a habit of cliff hanging you guys a lot, but I just can't help it! My mind comes up with so much stuff that I just NEED to keep putting cliff hangers in here! Speaking of which, how many of you saw any of this coming? :raises hand: I did! I think we're just about to the climax of the story, maybe possibly, but since I want to get this published once I'm done with it, I might have to drag it out a little bit more.


	14. An Unfortunate Situation

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

Valshe cast a glance over at Nate, who had gone very quiet and seemed to be too preoccupied with his hands to notice me staring at him.

A personality disorder.

I shook my head in shock and disbelief as I stared at Nate's sheepish little smile "Surprise…!" he laughed humorlessly "That's not possible…" I sputtered, crossing my arms across my chest stubbornly "I've seen you and Rey together before! That can't happen if he's just another personality!" I replied matter-of-factly.

They both watched me for a little while after this before turning to each other and shrugging "See, that's not really a normal thing for them" Valshe tried, pausing like she was trying to remember how to explain, before giving an apologetic and slightly embarrassed smile. "I don't exactly understand it either, so Nate can explain this one to both of us, okay?" she turned to face Nate, who sighed "It's not easy for a human to understand, so I don't really blame you for not getting it Valshe. We don't split very often because it uses up a ton of energy, so if something goes wrong we'd be in trouble, but…it's just a really complicated spell that we use when we get into fights. So far, we can only keep ourselves separate for about three and a half hours at the most, but sometimes Malachi can keep it going for longer" he rambled, not knowing how to explain it too well himself.

"So essentially, it's like duplication magic, only Rey occupies the duplicate, right? Can't you just cut the duplicate off so he has his own body, or do you holy Ethereals not know how to do something like that yet?" I teased, pushing myself off of the bed with a yawn.

Nate shrugged "It's different to cut the duplicate off than to split our minds and try to cram his into a simple duplicate…" he then nodded mutely and stood up as well "I guess I could show you if you want. After all, I'm just going to bed after this, so it's not like I won't get the energy back fast enough anyways" he put his hand out so his palm was facing the wall and said something under his breath.

Slowly, his body began to give off an iridescent white glow, which slipped down his arm and out his palm, where another, still transparent hand was beginning to materialize, pressed up against his.

The copy formed smoothly into a spitting image of Nate before solidifying, and Nate pulled his hand away, causing the glow to fade back into the darkness of the room.

Rey opened his eyes, which were the only difference between the two; his had a streak of sea green just above and just below his pupils, contradicting his otherwise dark brown eyes.

He glared, first at Nate, then at me "What? I was sleeping" he hissed angrily, crossing his arms "I told Xander some things" Nate told him innocently, and both of them turned to me.

"Oh, that's just great" Rey complained grumpily "Make friends with the demons Nate; that's _real_ smart! You'd better get out before I have to force you out, understand? Leave!" he spat at me, advancing on me and pulling his arm back the slightest bit, as if he were preparing to swing at me.

I smirked and held up my hands in a mocking fashion "I dunno, I'm pretty comfortable here" I returned, and the only thing that kept him from punching me was Valshe, who stepped in between us and took hold of Rey's closed fist gently "Calm down, okay? He's not doing anything wrong" she murmured to him, and he pulled away with an irritated scoff "Whatever" he grumbled.

She then turned on me, wagging a finger at me crossly "You shouldn't be provoking him in the first place Xander" she scolded, hand on hip "I did no such thing! I can't believe you'd think I'd do something like that!" I cried teasingly, turning to head for the door with a grin.

"But, as much fun as this was" I told them sarcastically "I think I'm going back to bed, see you guys in the morning!" I called, heading out the door and down the hall to my room, where I crashed heavily onto my bed.

The next morning came fast enough, and I woke up to Valshe yanking the blanket off of me and yelling that I had to get up 'Right now Xander!', before noticing that I was wearing only boxers and with a crimson blush, fled the room as fast as she'd come in.

I'd barely gotten dressed when Rey burst into my room and grabbed me by the collar, yanking me out the door and towards the stairs "What part of 'right now' didn't get through that thick head of yours Demon? Hurry it up!" he barked, releasing me and leading me down the stairs and through the front room, throwing the huge front door open and shoving me out into the early morning sunlight.

Already outside was Malachi, Nigathiel, Valshe, and Damien, who all looked up at the scene when we entered the courtyard with them "Don't push me, I can walk just fine by myself!" I growled at him "Then maybe you should've been walking faster!" he shot back with a fierce glare.

"Boys, boys! There's no need to be arguing this early! Just enjoy the nice morning while it's here, and the day will go by fast enough. Who knows, it might even be fun" Malachi coaxed, peaceful smile ever present on his lips.

I froze for a moment before turning to stare at him in disbelief "What do you mean by 'the day'? I can barely deal with him for an hour let alone a whole day! And besides, we're supposed to be leaving before lunch…right Damien?" I swiveled to face Damien, who shrugged apologetically. "We can't break through the barrier unless that freakin' Angel lets us, and he thinks it'd be a good idea if we spent some time together before we head back" he rolled his eyes sarcastically and tossed a half hearted glare over his shoulder at Malachi and Night before shaking his head in defeat.

As we left the mansion property and headed down a path that lead into the woods around the lake where Nate and I had talked what seemed like ages ago, Malachi explained what exactly it was we were doing that day.

He figured that since we'd be enemies again by tomorrow, we might as well head out and 'enjoy' the last day we had together.

At least Damien, Rey and I were on the same team when we began to complain about how the last thing we wanted to do was spend a day with each other, though Malachi and Valshe would have none of it. Nigathiel watched us all with amusement, adding in his two cents every once in a while.

Just as we hit the beginning of the woods, both Malachi and Nigathiel froze and bristled, looking around and around us with alert expressions on their clear faces.

Damien paused soon after they did, his face somewhat shocked before he grabbed Valshe by the wrist and dove back the way we came, just as an explosion pounded into the ground where they'd previously been standing.

The rest of us jumped back away from the blast, but were instead caught in the shockwave that followed it and were blown farther away from each other.

One explosion followed another and another, and all I was worried about for the moment was making sure I wasn't hit as I dodged around trees and headed deeper into the forest, before the ground below me settled and except for the explosions overhead, all was quiet.

I bent over, hands on knees and panted hard while I glanced around for anyone else who might've followed me back here.

Reaching for my belt, I checked to make sure that both my sword and my Oni were there, just in case things took another turn for the worse. I opted for my sword for the time being and took hold of the rough hilt, sliding it smoothly out of the sheath and letting it dangle at my side as I took another careful look around.

Finding the others would be simple enough; all it took was one sweep through the air and I'd be able to spot them right away then we could get things figured out from there.

I let my wings extend and stretch, stirring up the leaves at my feet with the wind they started up and bounced lithely into the air, tightening my grip on the sword and holding it at the ready, prepared to slice at anything that came my way.

The tops of the trees were just about at eye level when a strong force connected with my side and I was brought crashing back to the ground below me and my attacker.

Shoving myself off of the dirt as fast as I could and moving instinctively to swing my sword at the person, I was almost surprised when I heard it clash with another sword, the sound of metal grinding on metal giving me an anticipating thrill as a feral grin spread over my face.

"As much as I'd like to pummel you, now really isn't the time" the boy I now saw was Rey commented sarcastically before jumping back with his sword still at the ready "What the Heaven was that for? I'm trying to find the others!" I exclaimed, sheathing my sword disappointedly.

"No, you were _trying_to get your head blown off! Are you crazy? Not even a Seraph could fly through that without taking damage!" he yelled back, advancing on me harshly "But if that's really how you want to go out, then be my guest" he growled once he got closer, and I shoved him a few steps back with a frown

Turning heatedly and starting off in the direction I thought I'd come from, I stopped when Rey caught my shoulder "We might as well stick together" he muttered hesitantly "It'll be easier to find them, and if we get into trouble, we can watch each others backs" he grumbled, casting his gaze on one of the trees beside us.

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at him, but shrugged it off and nodded; it wouldn't be that bad if we at least tried to get along. "Right. Let's go then" I told him, continuing my stride through the smoky, partially destroyed forest.

We tread silently through the loosely spaced trees, weapons at the ready and eyes surveying the area around us carefully "Why would you willingly want to team up with me anyways? Any other time we've seen each other, you're always yelling about how much you hate me, so why help me out?" I asked, jumping over a tree that had fallen over in the blast.

For a moment, he didn't reply; just half glared at me as he cleared the tree as well before he rolled his eyes "I'm helping you; that should be all that matters, Demon!" he growled, turning his eyes to examine the vicious looking sky above us when I smirked at him. "Whatever you say, _little __bro_" I taunted, and I noticed his cheeks redden a bit with anger (or embarrassment?) while his face twisted into another scowl "Don't call me that" he snapped at me "Or I just might leave you behind"

To the reviewers: indescribable music: Thanks for another review! I'm sorry the chapter you've been looking forward to is so short this time, but I was trying to explain stuff, and then I couldn't really add anything else without having to end it at a really awkward part later (not that I didn't do that on this one anyways). Hope you stick around to read the next one!

A. Montgomery: Fifteen books? I haven't even had time to read one, 'cause I've just been so busy this summer! I liked adding the twists too, until I realize that I've thought of no way to explain it to my readers, and then I have a mind spasm because I'm trying so hard to figure it out! But, I digress, I hope you understand Nate and Rey's condition a little bit more now, and if you don't, I can try to explain it more in the next chapter. Thanks for reviewing again, I hope you have time to read the next one!

Devil wingz: I did that super long chapter last time, and now I have this super short one right after it...sorry about that! You guessed that they were the same person? Aww...I figured some people would, but I was hoping it would come as a shock instead :gives cookie for guessing right: here is your prize! I know I like to drop my chapters off at cliff hangers, but I didn't really do it on this one! I'm getting better, see? :sweat drops: Well, thanks again for all of your reviews, and I hope you keep reading! :waves back:

A/N: Okay, so I know this chapter is super short, but I'll try to make the next one longer (I'm working on it right now, so...) I also know that I haven't posted anything in a month as of today, but July has been a super busy month for me this year, so I never have time to get onto Word and type up another chapter. Also, I've decided that if you have questions for the characters, then you can just add them to your review and I'll put the answers in after the chapter in the 'To The Reviewers' section, 'kay? Until next time, please review, and don't try to fly around during a bombing; you probably won't be a very happy camper afterwards!


	15. Her Protectors

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

I rolled my eyes with an amused grin "Fine by me since it's probably Demons that are attacking the place anyways; you'd be dead in the water if you left me behind" I commented, realizing that was probably one of the main reasons he'd offered to stick around anyways.

His lips pressed into a thin line and he stubbornly stomped a couple of feet ahead of me, "Just shut up and watch my back you useless scum…" he grumbled as he passed me, and I couldn't help but chuckle for a moment at the little tantrum I assumed he was throwing.

"So, where's Nate? Is he sleeping, or…I dunno how it'd work for the one while the other is in control" I inquired, and Rey turned his head the slightest little bit to acknowledge me "He's awake, he's just not in control right now. Pretty much, he gets to sit back and watch unless he's trying to get me out of control" he explained with a frown "We can't separate now either, since Valshe kept us up last night and we didn't get enough sleep to recover the energy we'd need to pull it off…figures things would end up this way" he added moodily, slicing at the air with his sword.

"What about…" I tried, but Rey spun on heel and glared at me, blade tip just pricking the sensitive skin of my neck. "You ask a lot of questions, you know that? This is hardly the time or the place Demon" he spat before pulling away harshly and continuing through the wreckage of trees.

I sighed and shook my head, but continued following behind him silently and we soon reached an area of the forest where the trees began to thin out and I swiftly moved to Rey's side when he stiffened up ten or so feet ahead of me.

Once I reached him, I followed his gaze to where it had locked on and saw what must've been the town square. I recognized the Judgment Hall right away, as I'd seen pictures of it before when other Demons had missions to come up here and they'd had to use it as a landmark of sorts.

Though the hall itself wasn't scarred in the least, the buildings and monuments around it were destroyed; engulfed by flames and crumbling to rubble on the once peaceful streets.

The older Angels and Nephilim were grouping up, weapons drawn, prepared to defend their lands as best they could from the intruders, and guided the injured and the younger ones to the safety of the Judgment Hall.

Rey looked like he was going to jump in, but he stayed still save for turning to me "This is your fault Demon! If you had just stayed where you belonged they wouldn't be here right now!" he snapped, taking a few threatening steps toward me.

"How is it my fault? If you guys hadn't attacked us in the first place we wouldn't even plan something this big!" I retorted, putting up my sword in a defensive position.

I was ready for it when he lunged at me, his sword flashing to life like a bolt of lightning falling from the sky and I adjusted myself to block the blow with my own weapon.

He was fast and ruthless, but because of his speed, it left open a few weak spots, though if I wanted to get him before he got to me I'd have to be faster or he'd rip me apart.

Again and again metal crashed together and his sword crackled and sizzled heatedly against mine. Just as I was about to make my move and hopefully end the fight, someone jumped out in front of me and parried one of Rey's blows with a long, deadly looking spear.

"D? How did you find us?" I questioned, but he didn't hear me; he was too busy holding off the Nephilim boy.

This was an even better chance than any to immobilize him, and I slunk lower to the ground, preparing to make a dash for where Rey and Damien were fighting only a few feet away.

Or that was the plan anyways.

Right when I was about to take off at him, someone grabbed me around the chest and had me swinging back at them in surprise.

"Wait, Xander! It's me!"

Valshe's familiar cry made me stop mid-strike and I turned to look at her as she buried her face in the back of my shoulder and gripped my shirt tightly in her hands.

I lowered my head and sheathed my sword slowly, putting one hand over her trembling ones around my chest, and letting the other fall to my side.

"I thought you were actually going to hurt me…" she sighed with relief, unknotting her hands from my shirt and gently pulling away.

Scoffing, I turned to look at her worried face "Well you shouldn't sneak up on someone in the middle of a fight then!" I scolded lightly, watching as she shrugged apologetically and started towards Rey and Damien.

When he saw her approach, Damien jumped back a little, but Rey didn't stop until she was right next to him, pleading with him quietly to calm down.

Sheathing his sword with a disappointed sigh, he crossed his arms and turned to face the battlefield that the area around the Judgment Hall was turning into "Why should I? Look at what their kind is doing to our home; to our people!" he growled angrily, making his way closer to the fray.

Valshe caught his arm before he got too far, and spun him around so they were looking at each other intensely. "You guys did the same thing to their home and their people, so don't you think it'd be natural to want to strike back?" she coaxed, holding carefully to the cuff of his shirt sleeve.

He shook his head at the idea, opening his mouth to make a remark until he caught the look on Valshe's face and he let it drop with little more than a frown.

"Have you guys met up with Malachi yet?" I asked Damien as we moved to stand with Valshe and Rey "We found him and then we found Night a while after that. They were both going over to help the others I guess" he explained swiftly while we looked over the fray expanding before us.

"Do you know who's leading the attack?" I reluctantly asked, and Damien raised an eyebrow at me "Demons of course; but I can't figure out what classes they belong to yet…" he trailed off and watched some of the Demons from where he stood with a passive face.

There wasn't much more time for discussions though, and soon we'd made up a plan that just might help us figure things out.

We picked our way through the fights, moving towards the Judgment Hall as quickly as we could, hoping that someone would take the bait, which eventually, they did.

A trio of Demons headed towards us, weapons drawn and their faces holding murderous intent "Why're you two carting these Nephilim around?" One boy with fiery red-orange hair and light brown eyes asked "Yeah, we were told not to take any prisoners" a girl commented, pointing her whip at Rey and Valshe with a glare.

Damien gave a careless wave and one of his trademark smirks "Oh don't worry about that; we're not taking prisoners" Damien assured them "What do you need them for then? Just kill them right here!" the other girl demanded, crossing her arms impatiently "We're going to use them for something, but we're going to need a little help…do you think you'd be willing to come with us miss?" he asked politely and the girl blushed a light pink.

Charm successful.

"W-well…I suppose if you really need the help…I could come with" she stammered, turning to her two other companions "I'll be right back, okay?" she told them before following us to a side of the Judgment Hall where no one would be able to see us.

"So…what did you need me for?" the girl asked shyly, glancing back and forth from me to Damien "First off, I have a question for you" I told her, and she nodded obediently "Who's running this operation right now?" I asked her, and she cocked her head to the side a little in confusion. "Who's running it? You're just messing with me right? Kari of course! She's the only leader we have!" she laughed.

Kari? The name was familiar from somewhere…wasn't she the leader of the Rogues? That was it, wasn't it? Well wasn't that just wonderful?

I chuckled in mock amusement and shook my head "Of course I'm messing with you! Do you know where she is right now? There's something important I need to give her" I told the girl, who suddenly fell quiet, her face calculating "Who are you guys?" she asked, pulling the sword she had from its sheath and pointing it at me.

At that point we knew our cover had been blown, but it didn't matter as we'd found out what we'd needed to in the first place.

Damien had his Oni out in a second, using it to skillfully knock the sword from the surprised girls hand, where it fell to the ground a few feet away "Faction members? How did you even find out about this raid?" she gasped and jumped back away from us, preparing to run back and warn the others about us.

She didn't make it very far; Damien dealt with her before she'd even taken a step out of our hiding spot; dark blood and gore splattered noisily onto the burnt grass where she fell.

Rey rolled his eyes as he watched her body become caught in a mysterious blue flame before it swiftly disposed of her; leaving nothing – not even ash- left behind. "What did she mean, 'Faction members'? She was a Demon, right?" he questioned, leaning back against the hall nonchalantly.

Damien and I shared a look, and he shrugged; if we didn't explain it now, we'd probably have trouble later "She was a Demon, but…" I paused and watched Valshe pick up the Demon girls sword "Some Demons don't have classes; they started calling themselves Rogues so that way no one confused them with the rest of us; Faction members" I informed him, holding back a glare when he smirked.

"So let me get this straight; the Demons are fighting against each other too? Ha, you guys have an even more messed up race than I thought!" he laughed, taking out his sword and moving to join the fight.

Once Rey had gone, it left, Valshe, Damien and I wondering what exactly we should do next. Sure, we could help them, but why should we? This is exactly what they had done to our home, so why should we keep it from happening to theirs? After all, that was only fair.

But of course, Valshe told us that we had to do the right thing, especially after how much they'd helped us, which made it so we rushed into the fight in search of Kari, since that would be the fastest way to end this in the first place.

First we'd tried to send Valshe into the hall to help out there, then she'd be out of trouble, but she wouldn't have any of it; she was coming with and that was final.

As we weaved through the crowd of Angels and Rogues clashing at all sides, we released our wings and decided that since there was nothing flying though the air in this area, it'd be easier to find her from higher up and each took one of Valshe's hands as we glided over the others.

We found her with Malachi on her left and Night coming up for an attack on the right, which she skillfully dodged with a graceful jump backwards.

The partners worked in tandem, picking out her blind spots, and attacking them as best they could, but for some reason, they just couldn't seem to find the right rhythm to actually get through and do any major damage.

Landing swiftly, we rushed into the deadly dance the three were creating and they all stopped in their tracks. "Finally I get some back up" Kari panted lightly, turning to us with a relieved smile. Damien chuckled at this, shaking his head "Right. Back up" I told her with a devious smile, causing her eyebrows to knit together in confusion.

Malachi and Nigathiel had stepped back, and were watching us carefully, in case we were planning on turning on them instead. "You're Kari, I assume?" Damien asked calmly, pulling his Oni from his belt.

Kari looked passive for a moment, before giving a coy smile "And if I am?" she teased, leaning back on her right leg. "We're Faction members, in case you haven't already noticed. We'll give you one warning to get out of here before we're forced to kill you" I threatened emotionlessly, noticing Valshe straighten up courageously beside me.

She laughed mirthfully "Oh, I get it now; you two are the Demon kids that're carting around that human girl! This is her, right? How amusing" she smiled, slowly positioning her weapon for attack "I wonder if you've taught her to defend herself yet?" she speculated before rushing towards Valshe with a blood thirsty grin.

I would've been able to stop her before she'd even gotten close if Valshe hadn't ran forward to meet her challenge, bringing her sword up to parry the blow before it hit her.

Moving forward to protect her, to make sure she didn't get hurt, or worse because of Kari, I was stopped by another Rogue before I'd even taken two steps "So you're a Faction member, huh? Might as well take care of you two as well then…" he laughed, and a few of his accomplices appeared behind him to stop Damien as well.

They were better fighters than I'd thought by just looking at them, and it seemed that they weren't about to just let us slip by and potentially take their leader down, so we had to beat them before we could even hope to help Valshe out.

That was easier said than done, of course.

Right away I got a few good hits on him, but after that he shaped up and learned my moves so he could block or dodge my assault and every once in a while get out a counter attack or two.

Just as I was going in for another swing, someone came from behind and ran the man through with one clean swipe of a lightning bolt blade. Rey stepped around the figure as it fell, and like the other, singed quickly into nothing.

"What are you waiting for? Get over there and help her!" he demanded, moving to help the others with their fights.

I nodded and turned on heel towards where Valshe had been knocked to the ground, breaking into a sprint so I could save her before Kari could hurt her any more than she already had.

Valshe rolled to the side to dodge one vicious slice at her, but couldn't recover quickly enough to be able to dodge the next one.

I was almost there, but could I really make it before…? It wasn't looking like I could make it in the short amount of time it'd take her to give another good swing; I needed a longer weapon if I wanted to stop that attack.

My thoughts fled to the Oni I still had in my belt. It had never worked for me before, but…this time it had to!

Not even bothering to take the time to sheath my sword, I altogether dropped it to the ground and whipped out my Oni, swiping it outwards in the path of the Rogue leaders swiftly swinging sword, and hoping that, just this once things would turn out for the best as a scream left Valshe's lips.

I couldn't keep myself from yelling either, and I fearfully, frantically called out.

"_**Valshe!"**_

To The Reviewers: indescribable music: Thank you! I made this one a bit longer, so I hope you like this one as well!

Devil wingz: Well, at least you got to it, right? And I know Rey is cute. He tries to be so tough, when in reality he's just a very stubborn, protective older brother with a violence problem! I hope you enjoy that cookie and aren't too mad that I just kinda left this at a freakin' huge cliff hanger!

A/N: So...I really enjoyed writing this chapter; could any of you guys tell? The next chapter is either going to be another one of the other characters add-ins, or it might just be another regular chapter...I can't decide yet, but I kinda want to do something in Damien's POV. Anyways, the next regular chapter is going to be wonderful to write, I'm thinking...until next time, please review, and make sure you're eating right and keeping hydrated! (I've been doing a horrible job of that lately, so I figured I'd make sure you guys did it xD)


	16. Confessions

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

It was odd, being back at the house without her flitting around everywhere with that big smile of hers…if I'd only been a few seconds faster she would've been fine.

But I hadn't.

Everyone was in a haze of sorts, both because of the raid and the loss that accompanied it, and because of Valshe; no one really spoke much, and once dinner came around none of us ate much of anything.

Damien and I had packed our things quickly, and left the bags on his bed for when we left in a few hours. I heaved a rough sigh and shook my head in disappointment before turning to leave his room to find him standing directly in my way with his arms crossed "You haven't gone to see her since we got back" he commented quietly, and I turned my gaze to the window.

"I couldn't get there in time to help her Damien; why would I want to go see her now?" I muttered, trying to push past him so I could go back to my room for a while, but he grabbed my shoulder with a frown "Don't make me drag you up there Xander; you know I will" he threatened, locking eyes with me for what seemed like a long time.

Finally I nodded and he let go with a little smile "See? Now why can't you be that agreeable all the time?" he joked half heartedly as I started towards the room Valshe had been using during our stay and put my hand on the knob, hesitating slightly when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs towards where I was standing.

When I turned, I found Nate standing behind me with an almost surprised expression on his face. "Finally. I was starting to think you weren't even going to come at all" he smiled and moved to stand beside me "You have to turn the knob to get the door open, you know" he teased, and I dug my elbow into his ribs in return before pushing the door open quietly.

She looked so broken and small on that big bed, though it she had been cleaned up and someone had changed her into fresh clothes.

Her skin was paler than before; she'd lost quite a bit of blood from the fight, though there was an Arc Angel woman sitting on a chair beside her bed, fixing up the wounds as best she could.

I moved to sit beside her on the bed and put a hand to her forehead, brushing some of her soft hair out of her face with a frown. "How's it going?" Nate whispered to the Arc Angel woman, who looked up with a small smile "I did the best I could" she told him sadly "I got rid of the wounds without too many complications, but some of them were too deep to heal cleanly, so she has a few scars" she reported and Nate nodded "That's fine; you did your best" he thanked her and she stood up and left the room without another word.

Nate sat down on the chair she'd been occupying and looked at Valshe for a moment or two "So…" I started, and he looked up with his eyebrows raised "What happened anyways?" I asked, and he smiled calmly.

"She broke her wrist trying to catch herself when that woman knocked her over, and she had a couple of cuts that were pretty bad; they wouldn't stop bleeding right away, but they're just scars now, nothing else was really worth fussing about. We're lucky you were there; you saved her" he told me, but I shook my head.

He looked upset at first, but eventually turned his gaze back to Valshe on the bed "Sure I helped but…if I'd been a few seconds faster-" I tried to protest, but the words caught in my throat when a small, cool hand laid itself on top of mine "You did fine…don't be so hard on yourself" Valshe's melodic voice murmured comfortingly.

My head snapped up to look at her dull, honey colored eyes and I gave her a little smile "Right…thanks" I replied quietly, and she stuck her tongue out at me "It's about time you came up here! Even D came up to visit me before you did!" she teased, crossing her arms with a mock pout.

I didn't exactly know how to reply to that one "He's been helping us out downstairs, so he hasn't had time to come up. I told you that, remember?" Nate told her, covering up for me when I'd really been moping most of the time.

"I know…but I can tell he's been avoiding me too; I'm not stupid" she sighed, pushing herself gingerly to lean against the head rest and turning her gaze to me expectantly.

Sighing reluctantly, I shrugged "You don't even have an excuse for that, you know. You can't do the whole traumatic hero thing, because you did save me in the end, and it's not like you can go back and change it! So be a big boy and suck it up, okay?" she lectured with a stern glare, hands on her hips.

She was right. This whole time I'd been avoiding her for nothing, so she had the right to tell me off like that.

Chuckling, I nodded, and earned a confused look from Valshe "What's so funny?" she questioned, looking at Nate, who shook his head with a smile "Nothing really," I replied "I've just never been told to 'suck it up' by a girl before. Not seriously at least" I laughed, and she pushed me playfully "Shut up" she told me.

The three of us talked for a while, joking with each other and waiting for dinner to be ready downstairs, when Valshe suddenly grew quiet.

"Valshe, is something wrong? Are you hurting anywhere?" Nate asked, leaning forward and placing a hand on her shoulder in concern "No, I'm fine, I just…remembered some stuff from earlier is all…" she trailed off and bit her lip gently before glancing over at me "You were really different Xander; it was scary" she told me, and I raised a brow questioningly as I tried to recall the blur that had happened hours earlier.

"_**Valshe!"**_

My Oni extended, knocking Kari's sword off track so it cut into Valshe's side, coloring the blade a deep, unforgiving red, causing her to cry out and spasm in pain.

I pulled upwards and briefly caught a glimpse of my Oni that had been dormant for so long before this; a deadly looking scythe had formed, with an orb that was an endless midnight blue at the very start of the wicked looking blade; my perfect weapon.

Swinging an upward arc, I knocked her hand away from her sword, sending it spinning out of my vision. Kari sucked in a surprised gasp and took to the air, swiftly unsheathing another sword and diving at me, figuring if she had speed on her side, that I wouldn't be able to hit her with a weapon like mine.

Typically that would be true, but this was a weapon made especially for me; compensating for her speed was a simple enough task.

I sliced easily to the sky, and she had to pull around me to avoid the blow, and anticipating it, I changed the direction of the swing and threw her to the ground with the bladeless side of the Oni, her collision with the cement ground leaving her breathless for a time.

However, it didn't take her very long to get back up and parry my next attack with some difficulty, and get in a counter attack that I was easily able to block with the handle of the scythe, before twisting her sword out of her hand, where it dropped to the ground between us.

She stepped backwards a few steps, looking as if she were genuinely terrified, and wasn't about to risk her neck by attempting to grab her blade from the ground. "I get it, I'll call them all off! We'll leave, alright?" she shouted, but for some reason, I didn't stop there.

I strode forward with a calm smile and spun my Oni in my hand a few times before I sliced cleanly through the air, making contact with her abdomen, which was quickly colored a bloody red.

Hissing at the searing wound, she staggered before vaulting into the air, but I followed close behind her, and slammed the end of the handle between her wings, hard enough so she dropped back to the ground, twisting and tumbling until she was flat on her back and laid there, limp as I approached her silently.

Kari gasped when she saw me, and moved to pull herself away hastily, but yelped and dropped back to the ground with a sigh, before glaring at me as I moved to deal the final blow.

"A scythe, huh? I've only ever known a few other Demons that've been chosen to wield one as their Oni. That means death follows close behind you, you know; and it'll catch up to you one of these days" she informed me, and I scoffed "So what? That won't help you any" I growled viciously, and swung my scythe at her swiftly.

Of course, Malachi deflected the blow smoothly with a long, shining blade of his own "I think that's quite enough, Little Demon" he told me quietly, turning to look at Kari, still on the ground "That's enough? She's the one who caused all of this! This is your home, you should want her dead!" I protested angrily, preparing to take another swing.

His eyes narrowed as he turned his head towards me again "I _said_ I think that's quite enough, Xander" he repeated, and I stopped in my tracks, returning my Oni to it's sheathed form with a stubborn glare and stuffing it back in the pouch where it belonged.

Damien ran over to me at that point with a shocked expression that lasted a minute or so, before he explained that Valshe had already been taken back to the house by Rey and Nigathiel, and then congratulating me on finally getting my Oni to work.

"A scythe?" he'd exclaimed "I never would've thought you could fight with something like that as well as you did when you're always swinging swords around…I mean, I knew you were a good fighter and everything, but did you _see_ that? Now that's how you take someone down!" he laughed, patting me on the back before catching my disappointed look.

Of course, he knew what that was about; if I didn't get something done exactly the way I wanted it, I wasn't at all satisfied with myself, and Valshe was now front and center in my mind, covered in blood and dirt and grime, with that horribly pained expression on her face.

How could I feel at all proud of myself with that something like that to think about?

I understood what she meant by scary; I'd never been that bloodthirsty, and I was more than a little concerned that Valshe was the thing that had set me off.

Scoffing, I met her worried gaze "Yeah, I know…" I replied weakly "But it's your fault" I accused, sticking my tongue out at her.

She was taken aback by this, and gave me yet another questioning look "I don't see how that's my fault…" she murmured in confusion, turning to look again at Nate, who smiled "I'm going to step outside for a little while, okay Valshe?" he informed us, pushing fluidly out of the chair and walking quickly out the door.

"It's because…well…" I stammered, looking for the right words "Just tell me!" she coaxed, laying back down and stifling a yawn, watching me with tired, golden eyes "It's because…you're important to me, I guess" I told her with an uncomfortable frown.

I watched a small smile slide across her lips "You're important to me too, Xander" she replied quietly, and my eyes widened the slightest bit; I was important to her? The thought felt foreign when it played through my mind.

Her eyes slipped gently closed "Tired?" I asked, snapping out of my little surprise, and she shook her head "Of course not, I'm just relaxing" she murmured, stretching with a pleased sigh "I won't fall asleep" she assured me.

For more than one reason, I doubted that, but I wasn't about to argue with her about it, even if she did need her sleep "Whatever you say" I replied, and she nodded a little bit.

A minute or so passed of quiet, until I finally felt the need to ask "So I'm important to you, huh?" and she nodded again "Of course you are" she mumbled a few seconds later. "But why?" I questioned hesitantly "'Cuz you are! Don't argue with me!" she replied, waving her hand limply at me.

"I'm not arguing with you, I just wanted to know!" I shot back, and she nodded with a yawn "Okay" was all she said in return, and I thought there was a bit of sarcasm in there somewhere.

I sighed in exasperation "Why would I argue with you about something like that, Valshe? I really just wanted to know why you'd feel that way. I just…you're important to me too, and I think…I think I really like you. Just don't freak out or anything, okay? I'm not like Damien, so it's not like I'd try…" I paused in my rambling/confession and listened to her for a second.

She was breathing lightly, sound asleep.

Groaning, I ran a hand through my hair and shook my head "Ugh, seriously? Well, that means she probably didn't hear any of that crap" I muttered to myself, hearing someone in the doorway chuckle in amusement.

Turning around as if I were a kid that just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and with an embarrassed blush, I'm sure, I found Damien leaning against the door frame with a grin that could rival the Cheshire Cats own.

"I knew it!" he laughed as he crossed the room, patting me on the head "You _do_ have the hots for little Valshe! Good thing she was so tired, or she probably…Sh-! Ow! What the Heaven did you have to punch me for?" he rubbed his arm gingerly, and glared at me for a second, before his mouth spread into an evil grin "I'm so glad my baby brother is growing up! A crush on who now? Maybe I should go tell your Angel friends!" he exclaimed, moving towards the door.

Jumping out of the chair fast enough to send it toppling over, I grabbed for him, but came up just short as he barely sidestepped me "I don't care if we're Blood Bonded, I will kill you so violently, a Slaughter demon would be terrified of me" I threatened as he strolled leisurely to the door "Aww, is that a threat? I might just have to test that one out!" he laughed and bolted from the room in a second, leaving me sprinting after his retreating form.

"Damien! Get over here!" I yelled, shoving open the door to the music room, where Nate looked up from his book on one of the comfortable wine red armchairs, and Malachi stopped his piece on the piano to look at us with raised eyebrows.

Running around the other side of the giant grand piano, he dodged to the left or right when I moved to go around and grab him "I'm going to kill you D" I told him, panting a bit "You can't kill your big brother, that's inhumane!" he argued happily "Too bad neither of us are human, huh?" I shot back, vaguely noticing Night enter the room with an amused smirk.

Luckily, Damien broke his concentration for a moment and glared at him, giving me enough time to dive around the opposing instrument and just as he realized his mistake, making a move to run away, I barely caught him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down on the shining wood floor.

"Fine, I give!" he chuckled, trying to get up, noticing quickly that I wasn't about to let him up "Xander, I wasn't going to say anything" he told me reassuringly, but it still took me a little bit to finally stop standing on him and pull him to his feet.

Crashing on the couch across from where Nate was sitting and sharing a sigh of contentment, Nate smiled and shook his head at us before burying himself in his book once more; Nigathiel calmly took a seat by the window and sipped at his drink while looking over the gardens outside.

Malachi however, watched us a little longer, as if expecting us to do something else, before restarting his piece with a practiced grace and presence.

The room was once more filled only with the sound of a relaxing piano movement, as if none of the events from only minutes before had ever happened, proving that this was yet another typical day for our dysfunctional group.

To the Reviewers: indescribable music: Thanks, I was super proud of myself because I got that chapter up earlier than I normally would! As for Damiens chapter, that's going to be the next one, because I have some ideas for it that I can use after this chapter, so it'll fit better. I do have a fictionpress account, and until you mentioned it in your review, I had truthfully forgotten about it. I put this story on there to see which one took off faster, and since this one did, I paid more attention to it that the other one, but now it's all caught up on there too!

A/N: So I put some fluff in this one because I felt as though it needed a little bit, and then decided that it would be better if she just didn't hear it because I have some CRAZY PLOT TWISTS that I may or may not want to use...but yeah, isn't Xandie adorable when he's all flustered? Ah, I love tormenting my characters. I know the ending is a little OOC, but Damien had to hear that for his chapter (which is the next one, by the way), and I decided that he'd probably feel the intense need to tease his unfortunate little bro for it. Until next time, please review, and learn to enjoy your super odd typical days like this awkwardly dysfunctional group.


	17. In the Opinion of Damien

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

People tended to think that I was a very simple guy when they met me; just your typical, everyday Incubus that got a lucky break ending up in the Demi Eras class.

The thought entertained me to tell the truth.

I was probably the farthest away from a typical Incubus as you could get; most had never had the guts to get their energy from humans as I did, but instead stuck to other Demons; mostly Succubus, limiting the amount of energy they could take by quite a bit.

On top of that, most didn't take energy as often when they got into their later teens, since by then we learn how to use up the energy efficiently, while I was perfectly fine with going out every night.

Most Incubus also were assigned to fighting classes, and stayed in the mid to lower levels, which was what set me the farthest apart from the rest of us.

My acceptance into the Demi Eras class was anything but a lucky break. I had signed up for the entrance exams as my first and only choice in class placement.

Maybe I should've held back at least a little bit, since the others taking the test were easily tossed aside, Mistress Haruka and Mistress Pennt were more than a little surprised by their newest addition; and an Incubus none-the-less!

From there, climbing the ranks had been a simple task, and by the time I had met Xander, little ten year old me was just short of becoming one of the elites.

The poor kid had shown up at the school one day, eyes dead with a bored frown on his lips as he poked around for a bit before finally making his way up to the teacher at her desk, who looked at him with a raised brow.

"What's your name kiddo? Say it nice and loud so everyone can hear" the teacher told him, silencing us students with a wave of her hand "It's Xander" he told us emotionlessly "Xander Costello"

Some kids greeted him, or just nodded, most just shrugged and got back to what they were doing before "Let's see, you can sit by…" the teacher looked around the room quickly before meeting my eyes "Damien Ravi, that boy over there? The blonde with the violet eyes; he can make sure you get used to things here"

Little Xander Costello nodded sheepishly and picked his way around the desks, carrying his backpack so it wouldn't hit anyone when he walked by.

One boy, maybe a year or so older than me smirked as Xander neared him, and stuck out his foot _just_ so as he moved to pass by, causing the new kid to trip and, unable to catch himself, fall hard on the floor.

Most of the younger kids laughed as he pushed himself up and grabbed his back pack, throwing the kid a nasty glare over his shoulder before he stomped the rest of the way over to me "Oops, soooorry!" the kid laughed as he took his seat.

Myself and the upperclassmen shook our heads at the show; the kid always pulled stuff like that with the newbies, and it got old real fast.

"You alright, Costello?" I asked, resting my cheek against my hand and watching him out of the corners of my eyes. "Xander" he replied, and I turned to look at him full on this time "Hmm?" I inquired.

He sucked in a long breath "Don't call me Costello; my name is Xander" he repeated, frowning at me "Right…Xander it is. Well, I'll keep an eye out for you from now on, okay? You don't have to worry about a thing" I assured him, and he nodded; his originally dulled eyes wide.

After school came fast, and Xander made a bee line out the door, right after the boy that had tripped him earlier.

I decided to follow him, not completely sure what it was that he was planning, but figuring that if something happened, I should be there to cool things off a bit.

Standing just off of the school grounds with a group of friends, the boy laughed about something as Xander walked up behind him, tapping him on the shoulder before taking a quick step back.

When the kid turned around, I still wasn't close enough to hear what exactly it was that Xander had said, but whatever it was set the kid off, and he swung at Xander furiously, who jumped back before turning and running towards the pond, bully following right on his tail.

Seeing this, I took off as well, hoping I could make it over there in time to keep the stupid new kid from getting the snot beat out of him.

All of a sudden, Xander stopped running, turning to face the boy with a determined look on his face, and just when the kid was about to tackle him to the ground, Xander stepped aside, and the bully went sliding through a patch of mud, landing hard on his front and sending brown muck splashing up around him.

"Oops, sooooorry!" Xander mocked, turning and running towards me with a pleased grin.

I knew from there we were going to get along just fine.

Since then, we'd become partners, forming a Blood Bond with each other once we'd gotten out of school; having a partner was proof that you'd graduated.

From there, Xander got accepted into the Ravager class and worked hard to become the section leader he was now, while I'd made my way to Mistress Haruka's right hand member, taking care of some of the most secretive things in the Under Realms.

So yeah, I was far from being a typical Incubus, but was perfectly proud of it.

Why am I talking about this though?

Simply because Valshe seemed to be under the impression that all Incubus were as awe inspiring as I am.

Malachi had asked to talk to Xander about some 'important subjects' before we had to leave, so he reluctantly had let himself be dragged away from the two of us, lounging in her room.

As tempting as it was to ask her what she thought of my clueless little brother, I was pretty sure Xander wouldn't believe me even if I told him about it.

I knew they liked each other though; it was more than easy to see.

However, I also knew that Valshe was interested in a certain personality challenged Nephilim boy that seemed to feel the same way about her.

I just hoped that Xander figured things out and told her how he felt already, since that would pretty much secure her staying on our side, which meant the war should turn out in our favor.

Selfish reasoning?

Not so much.

Much as I'd like to say that's the only reason I wanted them to get everything together, the biggest reason was because I knew she made Xander happy, just as he made her happy.

To top it all off, I was even glad that it was Valshe that he was crushing on, since I already liked her well enough, even if she was just a stubborn little human. She was a good kid, and wasn't as easily manipulated as most people. It was fun to taunt her too, especially when she got pissy.

Surprising how fast someone can grow on you when you're forced to protect them, isn't it?

Maybe I'd just have to give Xander a pep talk or something so he'd just grow a pair and ask her out.

Ahh, little brothers are such difficult things to work with.

A/N: Hmmm, I dunno about this one. I wanted to add a bunch more stuff to it, but I didn't know how to get it all in without making the chapter skippy, so maybe I'll just weasel some stuff into Xander's POV, and put the rest into Damien's next POV when that comes around. I'm really getting quite a few chapters out now! I'm proud of myself! Until next time, please review, and try to imagine devious little Xander tricking that big mean bully into the mud puddle; it's pretty hilarious.


	18. Awakened

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: Still T, still probably not going to change

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

Unnerving.

That was best possible word I could use to describe how it was to get back to HQ; back home.

We received more than a few strange looks- a couple even stopping to glare at our incredibly ragtag little group- as we walked smoothly down the streets, Damien on the left and me on the right, with Valshe striding between the two of us with a pleased smile.

So, our original plan had been to head back to the Under Realms, report our findings about the Rouges to the Masters and Mistresses, and then hopefully, be able to go back to our room and finally have some time to ourselves.

That hadn't gone over so well, as when we were about to say our good byes, Malachi simply gave both Damien and I one of his serene little smiles when we went to shake his hand "You must not have realized" he began "That as Heaven has been attacked by an adversary unknown to us, we must look into this further by questioning your leaders about them" he commented tauntingly.

I looked at Nate, who stood behind him "Is he serious?" I asked, pointing accusingly at the Avenging Angel who tilted his head a bit to the side, as if confused. Nate shrugged and nodded his conformation "I'd be coming too; it'd be stupid to assume any holy Ethereal would be at all safe if they went into the Under Realms alone" he informed me "Not that we don't trust you or anything" he laughed when I opened my mouth to complain.

Either way, I was just glad that Nigathiel had opted to stay back and assist with the recovery efforts instead of going with us when we left.

As we entered the main building of HQ, we were immediately met by both Master Leon and Mistress Pennt, both of whom looked fairly alarmed by our sudden presence.

"What the Heaven do you two think you're doing? Bringing holy Ethereals here is absolutely forbidden! Stirring up even more trouble for us, Costello?" Master Leon barked angrily, a vein on his forehead sticking out the slightest bit.

I shook my head "Not at all Sir, actually I…" I began, but he waved his hand to silence me "Unbelievable! To think that you'd even try to make up silly excuses!" he roared, straightening up as best he could in attempts to reach my height.

Still about a half inch short, I'd say.

He almost reminded me of a lion, with his muscular build, and messy reddish brown hair. His face was always twisted into that fierce glare, or a bored, self-concerned frown, and he was extremely prideful.

Mistress Pennt however, who hadn't yet spoken, now approached us with an emotionless look, stopping just before Malachi and Nate and looking the two up and down for a few long moments.

Though I'd tuned him out since noticing the Mistress, Master Leon was still yelling at me, swinging his arms about in overtly dramatic gestures with his face slowly becoming redder and redder.

I'd heard that the two didn't get along well, but I didn't exactly expect Mistress Pennt to whip around like she did, and definitely didn't think she'd go so far as to cracking him in the head with her amber colored cane as she did so, causing him to lose his balance and fall to his knees.

"Silence yourself Gael! You're acting brutish and foolhardy as always! Now calm down and listen to what the children have to say for themselves" she ordered, and Master Leon pushed himself to his feet, grumbling something under his breath along the lines of 'Senile old maid', but didn't speak at all after that.

Both Nate and Malachi had their eyebrows raised in slight surprise; a slightly pudgy older woman, whose wrinkles and bent spine made her look like a comforting grandmother, unable to cause anything akin to pain or discomfort, thoroughly putting a much younger, able looking man in his place.

Adjusting the bun her just starting to grey brown hair was secured in, she took a quiet, settling breath and looked over her shoulder at me "Why, if it isn't little Xander and Damien! It's been quite a while, hasn't it?" she laughed with a smile, her raspy voice full of familiarity "Hey Gram, you're looking young as always" Damien replied with a grin, patting her shoulder "It has been a while hasn't it?" I agreed.

Mistress Pennt, the other ruler of the Demi Eras class that Damien belonged to, had always treated Damien and I like her grandchildren, though she was tough as nails with everyone else. For whatever reason, she tended to favor us, and would forever confuse those who knew her when either of us walked into her office and she smiled, or on a good day, even laughed.

She trusted us, which was probably why she hadn't reacted as Master Leon had, and instead ushered us to all to chairs in a meeting room just down the hall from the entrance, despite some of the disapproving looks from others.

"Tell me now…why have you brought them here? Obviously there must be a good reason for this." She quipped, resting her chin on her folded hands and watching us wisely. "Well…to put it simply…" I paused and looked at Damien for a moment, who shrugged "It seems the Rogues are getting pretty bold these days" I continued, and she raised her thin eyebrows.

Master Leon scoffed loudly and opened his mouth to retort, but caught the dangerous look Mistress Pennt was shooting him, and stopped short. "The Rogues you say? How…problematic" she commented, implying that I should go on.

It was at this point that Malachi cleared his throat and stood up, bowing deeply at both of them with a warm, polite smile "May I ask permission to explain this myself? I understand that as our kind doesn't exactly see eye to eye you may not fully believe what I have to say, however…I feel as though it would be easier that way" he requested, not once moving his gaze from hers.

The room was dead silent for a while, before Mistress Pennt finally nodded "Go ahead then, Avenging Angel" she prompted, and Malachi smiled again "You have my thanks" he replied, before looking out the window serenely.

"In order to make things perhaps run a bit more smoothly, my name is Malachi Videlle, and as you have stated, I am indeed and Avenging Angel. My Ascension here is Nathaniel Harlow, a Nephilim as you may have also noted." He explained lightly, waiting for them to acknowledge his introductions before he continued.

"Castallia Pennt; I am one of the two leaders of the Demi Eras here in the Under Realms. I have heard of you before Malachi…and this Nathaniel here, he is your partner Nigathiel's boy, correct? What is wrong with him?" she asked boldly, taking both Damien and myself by surprise.

Neither of them seemed surprised though, instead keeping their collected composures easily "He is indeed Nigathiel's child" Malachi confirmed, not divulging anything beyond that.

The Mistress was not pleased.

She shifted positions, straightening up and placing her hands neatly in her lap "I believe I asked another question Malachi" she pried, but he remained silent.

"I have…a personality disorder ma'am" Nate replied hesitantly, effectively breaking the fragile silence.

Mistress Pennt and Master Leon shared a look "So the rumors were true?" Master Leon boomed "A defective half-breed! That's rich!" he snickered mirthfully, and Nate dropped his head the slightest bit as Leon continued his barrage.

This was probably one of the first times I'd ever seen Malachi express anger, his smooth face contorting into a fierce glare as he opened his mouth to snarl his disapproval.

He never got a word out though, before Master Leon was pinned with his head slammed down on the heavy oak table. "Got anything else to say to us, scum?" Nate's typically calm brown eyes now had two thin, deep green lines above and below his pupils; Rey had taken control, and he was none too happy about it.

"What, are you deaf as well as brainless? I _asked_ if you had something else you wanted to say to us!" Rey spat, cracking his head against the table again, scowling at the Demon man beneath him "Nothing at all" Master Leon hissed, realizing that not one of the other Demons in the room were going to stop Rey from bashing his skull in.

Scoffing in disappointment, Rey released him, stepping back byValshe, who rolled her eyes at him "You're a pretty dramatic little Nephilim, aren't you?" she teased, and he shrugged "I can't help it; when an idiot steps out of line, they deserve it. Especially if it's a Demon" he huffed, crossing his arms and shooting an acidic glare the Master's way.

There was a quiet sigh from the end of the table, and Mistress Pennt silently stood up, nodding her head at Malachi "We should continue this somewhere else, don't you think?" she prompted, and Malachi agreed, both of them exiting the room grimly.

Shortly after, Master Leon declared that he was above babysitting the lot of us, and wasn't about to get the blame pinned on him for anything we did wrong by 'the old hag' and stomped out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Which left the four of us sitting idly in the conference hall.

Finally, Damien muttered some excuse about going up to our room to get a few things, and motioned for me to go with "I want to come with you!" Valshe exclaimed as we moved towards the doors, jumping out of the spinning chair she'd been playing on to follow us.

Because we couldn't exactly leave Rey of all people alone in one of the biggest, most important buildings in the Under Realms, a simple run up to our room turned into a sort of field trip. holy Ethereals couldn't just use the teleporting runes that we'd typically use to get up there either, so we had to go over to the elevators across the building and use them instead. How tiresome.

Just as we reached our floor and the doors slid open nowhere near quickly enough, Yuna, Master Paulet's assistant clicked loudly into the elevator car and right up to me. "Xander, Master Paulet needs to see you immediately" she told me brusquely before turning to Damien with a grin "Damien~" she whined "Where have you been; I was sooo worried!" she whimpered, slipping her hand into his.

Damien, as interested as he pretended to be, couldn't have fooled me if he'd tried. At the moment, the poor Demon girl was of no use to him, and he seemed bored with her, though he was trying to mask it.

"I got caught up in some things. Part of the job, you know?" he murmured, holding her chin gently between his fingers with a half hearted smile "Oh. Yes, of course! Being Mistress Haruka's right hand must be so stressful for you…" she coaxed, but didn't exactly get the reaction she'd been hoping for.

Instead, he stepped out of the elevator with Valshe and Rey "Heh, you underestimate me sweetie" he told her teasingly "Look, I'm sorry, but I have to run over to my room with our guests here. I'll have to come find you later, alright?" he excused himself as the door rattled shut.

Looking disappointed, she sighed as she pressed the button to Master Paulet's floor, turning to stare at me for a moment while pinching the bridge of her nose thoughtfully before shaking her head and tapping her stiletto heeled shoe rapidly.

Master Paulet was sitting at his desk as usual, his nose buried in a stack of papers while his pen scribbled a few notes here and there on a few documents, signing his consent on others, and he barely glanced up when I entered.

"Xander" he acknowledged me monotonously, pushing his work to the top right corner of his deck and dropping his pen on top of it. "I have come to the understanding that you've been through a lot these past few days" he prompted, resting his chin casually on his hands "I suppose you could say that Sir…" I paused, waiting for him to tell me why exactly it was he'd called for me in the first place.

Instead, he simply nodded, neatly pulled a sheet from the top of his pile and adeptly filled it out before speaking again. "First of all, I must commend you for finally being able to use you Oni. What form did it take on?" he asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Well…" I hesitated a moment or two "It's a scythe" like you have, I added silently to myself.

He raised his eyebrows at me for a moment before nodding contemplatively "I see. I suppose it doesn't surprise me all too much; as proficient as you are with swords, I didn't think it would take that shape" he laughed stiffly, and I realized that he was dodging around the real reason he'd called for me; trying to get me to drop my guard a little bit.

I chuckled nervously, stretching my arm across my chest to loosen up "Master Paulet, I'm sorry but…what's the real reason I was called down here?" I inquired, and he smiled at me knowingly. "You always could tell when there was something else I wanted to ask of you" he praised me "And you never allow yourself to get distracted when I touch on other topics beforehand. You see, it's just…I don't quite understand why it would appeal with you to stay with those…heavy handed air heads up in Heaven for so long, let alone to bring any of them back here. For them to question us nonetheless!" he sighed and shook his head sadly.

Taken aback, I cocked my head to the side the slightest bit and gaped at him "I'm afraid I don't understand Sir…" I replied hesitantly.

"Well Xander, of course _I_ trust you; you're one of my best men hands down, but…there are others that are questioning where both yours and Damien's loyalties lie now that you've been with them for such a long period of time. Surely you understand why?" he explained, gesturing to a chair across the desk from him for me to sit.

I nodded silently as I took my seat, watching him carefully as he continued "I knew you would! But, as I do trust you, I've told the higher ups and the general public that I'd sent you with Damien to go after them and get information. If you're why you never said anything about it, just tell them it was a highly secret mission concerning Damien's work, and as the two of you are partners, you were told to tag along…Mistress Pennt is part of this too, so you don't have to worry about that" Master Paulet paused then, massaging the bridge of his nose gingerly, making himself look worn and tired for a moment before he looked back up at me.

"Thank you Sir, but you really didn't…" I began, but he held up a hand, and I quieted. "I told you that it was because I trust you; it'd be easiest to leave it at that" he told me, and then paused momentarily "But tell me, do you feel very different since activating your Oni? More powerful perhaps?" he asked, tapping his lips with his finger in thought.

Shaking my head slowly, I shifted in my chair "Not that I've noticed…why do you ask?" I replied in confusion, and was almost nervous when he began to chuckle to himself "Oh, I was just wondering if you'd noticed that you've Awakened" he told me casually, causing me to blanch, and lean forward "Wait, what do you mean Awakened? I grew a class?" I sputtered in surprise; I was half expecting him to start laughing again and tell me that the joke was on me, but he didn't.

All he did was pull another sheet off of the top of his pile, and scribble a few things on it before filing it away behind him "Generally that's what Awakened means, Xander" he teased, sounding rather amused "Welcome to the Reaper class" he congratulated me with a proud smile, and handing me a badge to replace the one that I currently used to show my rank.

I took it from him, my mind still trying to grasp the fact that I'd unknowingly grown a rank, and scanned it.

The metal was a sleek, shiny black, shaped in a simple rectangle, the letters raised in glinting silver proudly showed off my new achievement. It read: Xander Costello; Black Blood Reaper class.

Running my hand along the cool, smooth surface, I continued to look it over "Master Paulet, it's not that I'm not happy about this but…the information on here is wrong." I informed him hesitantly, and he looked up from a paper he was looking over "What do you mean?" he asked smoothly.

"It says on here that I'm in the Reaper class, which I suppose is true now, but…below it, when it states my rank, it says I'm your beta" I offered it to him, but he shook his head and waved it back to me "Nothing on that card is incorrect, Xander; I filled it out myself. Is there something wrong with being my second in command? I was sure you'd seen this coming…" he smirked at me calmly.

Thanking him, and promising that I'd do my best to complete whatever task I was given, I excused myself, and walked numbly to the elevator, barely registering the walk back to mine and Damien's place.

It wasn't until I'd been back home a few minutes that I finally snapped out of my stupor, at which point my mouth spread into a huge grin "What's wrong with you?" Rey chided from where he'd spread out on the couch "Must be something good" Damien added with a smirk, and I tossed my new badge to him, and after he looked it over a few times, he too grinned at me across the room.

Damien clapped me in the back a few times, praising me and telling me how sooner or later, I might even be able to take him down, when Valshe walked into the room in her bathrobe, her wet hair dripping tiny splashes of water onto the carpet and herself. "Did something happen?" she asked, running a brush through her hair a few times "Yeah" I replied with excitement "I got a rank up, and I'm Master Paulet's second in command now! How great is this?" I told her, and she dropped the brush on the couch before running over to me and pouncing on me in an elated hug.

"Xander, that's great! Congrats!" she exclaimed after she'd almost tipped me over, but I didn't care if she did or not; I was more aware of the fact that her robe was falling just slightly in disarray at the sudden burst of action, and how I could easily smell the shampoo and soap she used when she buried her face in my neck.

I was a little more disappointed than I probably should've been when I had to let go of her and she skipped out of the room to go get herself changed.

In recap, Master Leon got his face pounded in by Rey, Damien and I weren't getting in trouble for disappearing into Heaven for a little more than a week, I'd grown into Reaper class, and became Master Paulet's right hand, and to top it all off, Valshe had quite literally thrown herself at me.

Today hadn't turned out as bad as I'd thought it would after all.

A/N: So yeah...I've been on hiatus for quite a while now, haven't I? I suppose I just got caught up in a lot of stuff at home, and haven't really wanted to write anything that really fit in to this. But now, after a month or two of patiently waiting, you have gotten this! And Xander gets tackled by Valshe and has a total head spin moment over it! I'm working on the next chapter now, so I should be able to get that up soon. Until next time, please spread among your friends, drop a review, and make sure your bath robe is on right before you tackle hug anyone. It's because I care about you lovely readers, okay?


	19. Competitive

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy, Romance, Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

Even though it had been a good hour or so, Malachi was still in the meeting with our higher ups, and it was going on, it was going on six at night, and we were starting to get hungry.

After being in Heaven so long, where most of the food was freshly prepared in the kitchen, and was always considered to be rather healthy, both Damien and me were ready to just get some burgers and fries and call it done.

Valshe was okay with it, but Rey was a bit more difficult to convince, since he'd never had fast food before.

However, while I was working at convincing him that either we were getting fast food, or he was going to cook for us, Damien ran to get the food really quick, and was back before we'd stopped arguing.

"No need to thank me children, but I've just brought you all your dinners" he announced as he threw open the door and dropped the food on the table.

Rey made a face as he watched Damien unwrap a burger and bite into it without so much as a pause "Demons" he scoffed with a roll of his eyes.

Seeing this, I grabbed one out of the bag and held it out to him "It's either this, or you're going to be hungry for a while" I told him, but he continued to glare at it "Then that's what I'll do" he accepted with a shrug.

I smirked and continued to try getting him to take it "Come on, don't be so picky!" I tried, but he deftly ignored it "You're being a baby. What are you, scared? I knew you couldn't do it, Nephil" I prompted, at which he snatched the food from me with contempt.

"I don't see how you can eat this" he grumbled as he pulled the wrapping off of it "It's practically all grease…" however, not being one to ignore an insult, he took a hesitant bite.

He blinked once, looking down at his burger in slight surprise, before taking another bite.

Grinning, I turned to my own meal "And you didn't believe me when I told you that you'd like it" I taunted, and he shook his head at me, swallowing before he opened his mouth to speak "So what? Besides, it's not like it's amazing or anything like that" he shot back, and Damien offered him a fry "Well these just might be" he prompted as Rey ate it and shrugged. Valshe giggled at us and commented that it was nice to see us all finally getting along, which the three of us simultaneously denied.

But, for a while, maybe Rey wasn't as annoying as I typically found him.

Just a few minutes after we'd finished dinner, there was a knock at the door, which I swiftly stood up to answer, only to find Malachi, Mistress Pennt, and Mistress Haruka standing on the other side of it.

Damien stood immediately and came over to the door "Come in" he offered, holding out an arm in welcome "We will" Mistress Pennt replied breezily, entering the room fluidly.

Once everyone was seated in the living room, Malachi spoke "It seems we've come to a bit of an understanding" he informed us all pleasantly, but he didn't exactly look pleased. "Mistress Pennt contacted a few of the big guns and they've decided we're going to 'assist' them for the time being" Haruka grumbled, looking particularly venomous.

"Your leaders are, however, directing us as to exactly how they want them destroyed" Malachi added, avoiding Mistress Haruka's glare.

Rey stood up at that moment, arms crossed over his chest, scowling at the Mistresses "You're saying that they attacked _us_ and now they're going to dictate how we can and can't deal with it? And you're just going to lie down and let those—" he stopped suddenly and raised a hand to his head, as if he were in pain.

Mistress Pennt raised a thin eyebrow at him "Did you have something to say, Nephilim?" she asked smoothly as he raised his head "Absolutely nothing ma'am" came the reply; Nate had come back into control.

She nodded "I didn't think so" she snipped, before looking around the table to address the rest of us. "Now…the only ones authorized to take place in this are those who already know about it. Meaning these two holy Ethereals, the human girl, Xander and Damien, myself, Mistress Haruka, and Master Paulet are the only people who may assist with this task. Understood? No one else is to be brought into this." She instructed bluntly.

Damien and I gave a stiff nod and bowed to the Mistresses, who both stood up and made to exit the room. Just before leaving, Mistress Haruka whirled around and stomped over to Damien, glaring up at him before pointing at him menacingly "Don't let anyone screw this up; this benefits us more than it does them" she ordered, and he smiled at her "Of course, Mistress; I haven't messed anything up for you yet, have I?" he replied, and she nodded "Good. Let's keep it that way" she muttered before with a swish of her long hair, she clicked out of the room and down the hall after Mistress Pennt.

Nate looked around sheepishly "So we figured it out, right? We have a plan now?" he mused with a small smile, his eyes bright. Malachi nodded, but made no comment; it seemed that even though he hadn't shown it before, he shared Rey's view on the situation.

Valshe, who had been quiet the whole time the Mistresses had been present, looked up from her hands "I think it's a good idea. I mean; when was the last time Angels and Demons have worked together for anything? And this time…this time, I want to help too! I'll practice, so I'll be better than I was last time!" She resolved, and I shook my head at her "Do you not remember what happened last time? I don't want you to get hurt again" I pressed, but she crossed her arms stubbornly.

"I don't see a problem with it" Damien replied, ignoring the incredulous look I shot at him, and Nate shrugged "It's not like we couldn't teach her a few things" he added, glancing at Malachi "Right?" he asked, receiving a stiff nod from the Avenging Angel. "That we could" he answered, standing up suddenly "We have to go back for now though Nate, and report that this situation is being given the utmost priority" he brushed some imaginary lint off of his cleanly pressed jeans.

There was a short pause in which Nate looked up at Malachi with something almost like a pout "I was actually thinking that I would stay here for a while…if it's alright with you that is" he hesitated, and Malachi smiled "Don't want to part with your friends, huh? Well, I suppose the three of you can handle assisting Valshe with her training. But Nate? Make sure you and your brother don't cause too much trouble now" Malachi warned him before turning out to the door and heading out, back to Heaven with his report.

For a second or two, we all just looked at each other, before Damien guided Valshe and Nate out to the hall and lead them over to the gym, me trailing after them, muttering under my breath all the while.

Once at the gym, we were practically alone, save for a few younger Demons practicing hard; probably for their Awakenings soon to come.

Nate and Damien both unsheathed their swords and motioned to the wall, where a few weapons used for training were hung neatly, and Valshe pulled down a sword of her own without much thought. "Valshe, you can't do this. You don't know what you're getting yourself into!" I tried, but yet again, she ignored me.

"Why don't you tell her why you don't want her to go Xander? Maybe you'll get her attention then" Damien teased, sticking his tongue out at me, and Valshe turned her head to look at us expectantly. "Shut up, Damien…" I hissed, and at this, Valshe turned all the way around.

"What did he mean Xander?" she asked, eyeing me hesitantly "I don't want you to fight because…I can't…I couldn't take seeing you get hurt like that again. Besides, this isn't even your fight" I explained, unable to meet her eyes.

Slowly, she stepped forward, until we were less than a foot apart, and she leaned towards me "Well, you'll just have to teach me so I don't then, won't you? That way you won't have to worry about protecting me" she whispered in my ear, quelling my argument with ease before turning back to where Damien was standing with a knowing smirk, and Nate was twirling his sword in his hand with a barely-there look of envy on his face.

The lessons started easily enough, as they would with a regular student. However, Valshe wasn't just a regular student; she learned at a fairly quick rate until we started getting into the more difficult aspects of fighting, when she started to become hesitant.

I suppose her lessons went well, more or less, and she would at least be somewhat prepared when we headed out the next morning.

Or at least, I hoped she would be.

By the time Valshe had announced that she could do no more, and she'd retreated back to take a shower, the silvery white fog signaling night-time was just beginning to settle over the streets, and Nate stared out the window with wide eyes.

Raising my eyebrows at him with a frown, I leaned up against the window sill beside him "You want to go look around, don't you?" I asked, and he glanced at me out of the corners of his eyes "N-no…I was just looking" he muttered, pushing himself away from the window and walking over to the couch sheepishly.

Rolling my eyes with a sigh, I followed him and crossed my arms in amusement "If you really want to look around, I can bring you" I told him with a shrug, and he grinned at me "You could?" he asked hopefully. "Sure, why not?" I smirked, and led him over to the door and down the elevator.

Once outside, Nate looked around with a child-like curiosity, until he noticed me snickering at him, and his face reddened "Shut up!" he grumbled, and I shook my head and continued walking.

"So there really is no sky here. Isn't that kind of depressing? It must always be so dark here…" he quipped, his head tilted skywards, at the seemingly endless blackness above us "Nope, no sky…it's not so bad though; you get used to it after a while" I explained, and he nodded enthusiastically.

For about an hour, I simply led Nate around my division of Hell, until we came to a clearing where a club was blasting fireworks into the darkness, where they'd stain the dark fog above in vibrant greens, blues and reds, and Nate gasped "Is this what you meant? This is why it's not so bad?" he murmured, his mouth agape, and I nodded with raised eyebrows.

In a way, it was interesting having a little brother like Nate, even if he was Nephilim. He was almost refreshing in the way that he knew so little about where I'd come from, but was still so eager to accept it and even learn about it.

Suddenly he turned to me with a serious face, and his fists clenched at his sides "Xander?" he prompted, and I was almost taken aback at his abrupt change in mood, thinking for a moment that maybe he'd switched and Rey had taken control "Yeah?" I questioned cautiously, waiting for him to continue.

At first he said nothing; instead hesitating as if he were trying to decide whether or not to ask, but eventually found his resolve again "You…you like Valshe, don't you? I see it in your face when you talk to her" he asked, and I frowned.

"I suppose so…yeah, I do" I replied, still slightly suspicious as to why he'd even asked in the first place.

Nate smiled then, and nodded just the slightest bit "Well then. I guess we really do have similar taste after all…" he sighed, before looking up at me with a determined look on his face "I'm not going to let you have her though. I'll fight to win her over just as hard as you will!" he challenged, and I grinned.

"Oh really? We'll just have to see how that turns out for you then, won't we?" I accepted, leading him back to the HQ with an almost competitive gleam in my eyes.

A/N: So...that makes two chapters for different stories in one day. I feel so accomplished. I guess I'm just in a big writing mood today, because now I want to go back and make another chapter, haha! Well, now that Xander and Nate have a little bit of brotherly competition going, we can finally reach the last leg of the story! It'll seriously probably only be a few more chapters after this one. Like...maybe four, five if we're lucky. On a side note, I'm not sure if you've noticed yet, but I've started a new story since this one is drawing to a close! It's called Brutal Salvation, so if you have time, if you could check it out and review it, that would be a HUGE help! Until next time, please review, and let the brotherly competitions for the love of a fair maiden BEGIN~!


	20. Already Damned

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Romance, Action, Dark Fantasy

Rating: T (Nate gets just a _tad _angry in this chapter...)

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please don't use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

We had been long since prepared to leave to the Rogue's part of the Under Realms, and were at this point, only waiting for our orders to head out. Malachi and Nate were whispering in hushed voices to each other on a bench, every few minutes looking up at Valshe and I to see if anything had changed, before immersing themselves back in their conversation.

Damien was upstairs with Mistress Haruka and Master Paulet, getting info on how we should proceed if we were met with different challenges, and probably making sure he'd keep his eyes on the two holy Ethereals while he was at it.

This left Valshe and I to stand beside a warm pool of murky black water, which, despite the messiness factor, Valshe was playing with; her hands gliding easily through it, and when she scooped it up, it would turn to a color similar to her silvery hair before she'd drop it back into the pool and it would send grey tendrils swimming along to the middle of the puddle. "Xander, what is this?" she asked idly, and I glanced down at her from where I stood a few feet away. "That," I began "Is supposed to be able to tell whom a person is truly aligned with. If it's with fallen Ethereals, like me, then it stays black, or turns a dark blue. If one of those two did," I motioned to Nate and Malachi sitting on the bench "It would turn white or a really pale gold. Yours is silver, so it's probably because your kind of…a nothing at this point." I explained, and she glared at me.

"A nothing, huh? How sweet of you" she crooned sarcastically, and I scrambled to fix my mistake "You know that's not what I meant! Like…you haven't sided with anyone yet! I wouldn't think of you as nothing, Valshe!" I replied, flustered.

She smiled at this, and nodded "Alright then…" she murmured, but she still looked unconvinced "Come on, Valshe, give me a break…" I whined, and she giggled at me, a light chime-like sound "I know what you meant, Xander" she laughed, and I felt my cheeks redden slightly.

Returning her gaze to the water before her, she trailed her finger in a swirl through the water, when Damien exited the sliding glass doors with a Direction Sphere in his hand and a determined smirk on his face "Alright, let's head out then" he declared, pulling us all out of our thoughts and back into the present.

By the time we were out of the district Damien and I resided in, the sharp, dry heat signaling the afternoon blew in, and though it effected us demons none, the air was making it visibly hard for Valshe to breathe, and even the two holy Ethereals walking beside us were panting just lightly enough for it to be noticed.

"Valshe, you should drink something before you pass out" Nate commented, noticing her starting to slow down, and wobble a little bit. Valshe nodded and slid the small sling bag off of her shoulder, fumbling irritably with the strings keeping it cinched shut, reaching in and searching for her water bottle before coming up with wide eyes.

She checked the bag again, and looked at each of us again, before sighing heavily "I must've left it back where we last stopped…" she grumbled disappointedly, slinging the bag back onto her shoulder and trudging on with her head down.

Nate, in turn, grabbed his own water bottle and ran up beside her, unscrewing the top and holding it out to her with a smile. "I can't take yours! What'll you do?" she hesitated, but he shook his head and pushed it into her hand anyways "I'll live until we get to the next district, then you can give it back and get another one. Until then, you could pass out, and I don't want to see you get hurt" he compromised, and she smiled at him before bringing the bottle to her lips and taking a long, grateful drink.

As we continued, I caught a cheeky look from Nate, and slowed down to match his pace beside him "What's with that look, Nephil? You didn't help her just because you'd make me jealous, did you?" I questioned, and his small smile broke into a grin "No, I gave it to her because I really don't want her to get hurt. Seeing your reaction was just a little something extra, is all" he replied easily, and I scoffed at him reluctantly.

Oddly enough, as we dragged ourselves across the sweltering planes of reddish dirt and charred, depressing little plants, the area we were in seemed to be utterly devoid of anything. Usually you'd see a hellhound, or an Under Dweller, or at least be able to _hear _a hellhound _chasing _an Under Dweller. There weren't even any lost souls anywhere to be found, drifting aimlessly wherever the wind took them, until the hellhounds found them and dragged them back out to the Ward, where they belonged.

But there was nothing, which more than set me on edge.

None of the others seemed to notice it though, so I kept my probably pointless worries to myself as we got closer and closer to our desired location. So close. Maybe an hour and a half left, at the worst, and then we would be able to finish our business with the Rogues once and for all, and then I could get back to my typical day.

As the thought passed through my mind though, I found myself looking sideways at Valshe, and I felt a tiny warmth shiver and stretch in my chest, making me wonder if I even wanted things to go back to normal in the first place. My eyes then trailed over to where Nate and Malachi walked side by side, chatting lightly with each other and lightly teasing Damien, who walked in front of us, a look of endearing irritation apparent on his familiar face.

At this point, things would probably never go back to how they were, but by now I was used to it. I welcomed, and accepted it, even.

"And then it becomes obvious how much of a space cadet Xander is being" I heard Nate chuckle, and I broke out of my thoughts to look over at him "Huh?" I answered half-heartedly, and noticed Malachi smirk at me in amusement "You'd best get yourself out of your mind for the time being, Little Demon. You'll quickly find that if you distract yourself like that in enemy territory, they will be quick to bury their blade in your back" he commented, and I scoffed "And I'm sure you'd let them do it, just to prove it too, wouldn't you?" I said with a dark sort of humor.

From after Malachi had pointed that out, he, Nate, and Valshe made a game of sorts for when I let myself get distracted again. Every time they thought I looked 'lost in my mind' or just out of it in general, they'd toss one of the tiny rocks on the ground at me, turning away innocently each time I'd whirl around with a glare.

I still had my earlier suspicions bubbling up every once in a while, when Damien finally sighed and motioned for me to come closer just as I was about to tell Malachi off for condoning his childish behavior and sucking the other two into it as well, but I simply growled "Cut it out, already!" and moved to walk beside Damien instead.

He said nothing for a second, only glanced around subtly before looking at me "Do you think there's anything odd about this whole trip, Xander, or is it just me?" he asked quietly, and I nodded "I've been thinking the same thing. What do you think happened?" I quipped, and he shrugged a bit "Like Hell if I know. The Rouges pretty much control this whole area, so I haven't been around here very often. This might be the normal thing here." He commented with a sigh before stopping in his tracks, his violet gaze, made more intense by the sun staring out ahead of us seriously.

The rest of us quickly came to a stop and followed his eyes to look upon a single, young hellhound trotting around in its puppy-like manner, before turning its bright red eyed look on us and storming over with an _almost_ intimidating snarl. From a distance, it had almost looked cute, with its dark fur and lolling tongue, and its odd black and white tail sticking proudly up behind it.

Up close, it was different.

While it was still a pup, and wasn't as horrifying to outsiders as a grown, or even half grown hellhound would've been, now that it was closer, you could see how the black fur was matted and knotted in some places, and spattered with blood in others. The tongue still hung out of the side of its mouth, but ones eyes weren't drawn to that as much as the huge, yellowing, razor sharp teeth that were there as well. His tail had a chunk or two of flesh ripped off of it, showing rugged white bone beneath it.

Malachi and Nate backed up the slightest bit; holy Ethereals, due to the fact that they rarely entered Hell, didn't know much about the hellhounds besides the fact that they were vicious, and should be feared. This was by all means correct.

Valshe however, took a step closer to it, and knelt down beside me to get a closer look before scooting a little bit closer again, taking it by surprise so that it jumped back a little bit and dropped down onto it's haunches, prepared to jump at her.

I reached out to grab her just as it jumped, pulling her back and smacking its dark head as it reached us. "Sit!" I commanded with a stern look, and it hesitated for a few moments before plopping its butt on the ground and looking up at me with those intense eyes.

"Aww, it knows tricks!" Valshe laughed, clapping her hands with excitement "We should take him with us!" she exclaimed, and Damien raised a brow at her "You were the kind of kid that took all kinds of strays home, weren't you? I bet you got bit a lot too, huh?" Damien taunted, and she frowned "Maybe" she replied, crossing her arms, before glancing back down at the knee-high hellhound and reaching down to pet it.

Again, it noticed just before her hand made contact with its ear, and jumped back with a low growl "You can't pet a hellhound, Valshe, you're not a demon! Just leave it alone, okay?" I told her, though she continued looking at the dog with a wanting look. "Just let her pet it, Xander. If she gets bitten, at least she'll get some lovely battle scars" Damien laughed, and I looked up at him incredulously "Battle scars? The thing would probably take her arm off!" I replied, as he shrugged "Yeah, I guess so" he sighed, reaching out to pet the hellhound himself, all the while giving Valshe a taunting grin. "No fair!" she cried to me, a tiny pout that made my cheeks redden on her pink lips.

As it figured, we couldn't get it to leave us alone anyways, because Nate, Malachi, and Valshe weren't demons; meaning they were targets for the duty-bound hellhound. Every few minutes or so, Damien or myself would turn our heads to see it about to stealthily chomp down on the backs of Valshe's heels, or stretching its neck to bite Nate or Malachi's hand and we'd have to yell at it once or twice to behave.

Not that I really minded much; this was as good as payback for them throwing rocks at me earlier, I thought with a pleased little smirk as it trotted along beside me, turning to bark at the other three once in a while.

It was almost as if it knew where we were headed, and began to lead the way, until Damien just put the Direction Sphere away and relied on the little hellhound to show us where to go.

Malachi made a sarcastic remark about how he wasn't sure it would be wise to follow a young hellhound into enemy territory "But I'm not from Hell, so there's always the chance that I'm wrong, isn't there?" he'd chuckled, but left it at that.

A short while later, we'd come up to the bottom of the Gate of the Damned, and stood looking up as souls were drawn to the huge pit by demons with promises of escape, or other things that might appeal to the soul, where they'd be 'welcomed' to their new homes by being forced off of the ledge, free falling several hundred feet, screaming and crying, before being snatched out of the air just before they'd hit the ground by a demon that would eventually bring them all to where they'd either be recruited as servants and the like, or would simply be tossed aside so the Slaughter demons could have their fun with them.

Upon entering the area, I'd stood close to Valshe and put my hands over her eyes; she didn't have to see this now, or ever. She wouldn't be able to take this kind of sight in without there being some kind of backlash later on. For a minute, she protested, trying to pry my hands away from her face "Valshe, I'm trying to help you. You can't watch this." I whispered to her, and to my surprise, she didn't even question me, but went still and silent in my arms.

Nate and Malachi both looked disgusted as they watched the grinning demons force the terrified human souls they'd found off the edge, how they would laugh as soul screamed and cried and spun and flipped around uselessly in the air, before a demon would simply pluck them out of the sky and shackle them together against the walls, where some sat bawling, others trembling, or just looking dead and defeated.

I noticed that though Malachi watched with a disgusted frown and his eyebrows crinkled in disapproval, Nate was visibly shaking; his fists clenched, and every once in a while looking over a his teacher as if wanting the order to go do something to help them. All Malachi did was place a hand comfortingly on his shoulder before shaking his head. "There's nothing we can do here, Nathaniel" he murmured, but Nate, who was still watching, suddenly wrenched himself away from Malachi and burst into the air with a fierce determination.

He barreled through the air towards where a child no more than seven or eight was falling down, silent with fear, and tears streaming from her eyes "Watch Valshe," I told Damien, pushing her over when he nodded, and shooting into the air after Nate, who was just about to grab the girl while the other demons simply watched him with a grin. Lucky for me, I was able to get to him just as he was about to snag her shirt and slam him into the wall, where he collided with a surprised gasp and went limp for a second as the air was efficiently knocked out of him. "You can't interfere with this, Nate!" I hissed at him as he began to struggle against me, his eyes wide as the girl got closer and closer to the ground.

"No! I have to…she's just a child! She can't have done anything bad enough to end up here! Let go!" he cried, thrashing against me wildly. Somewhere behind me, I registered Valshe scream as she saw what was happening, but I couldn't do anything for her at this point. Nate seemed spurred on by this though, and I felt a powerful jolt as an electric current suddenly surrounded myself and Nate until I let go of him and plummeted towards the ground just like the souls around me.

Filling my wings with air so I glided to the ground, I saw Nate go after the little girl again, but was too late; because he had kept the demon that was supposed to catch her from getting near, the girl hit the bottom of the Gates with a sickening splatter. Damien had covered Valshe's eyes, though she knew what had happened anyways, and was shaking her head slowly, her hands pressed to her mouth in disbelief.

Nate dropped beside the unrecognizable figure and slammed his fist into the ground "Damn it all!" he yelled, his voice shaking with rage before he stood up and faced the other souls who had watched with wide eyes against the wall. Slowly at first, then breaking into a run, he made his way over to them, and released them all from their shackles before anyone could stop him. The souls stared at him gratefully before running off in hopes of finding escape from their captors.

The demon that had been catching the souls in the first place unsheathed his sword and swung it at Nate, who dodged to the left easily, taking out his own sword as he swung around behind the demon and plunged the blade ruthlessly into his back. The demon dropped limply, blood pooling around him; dead before Nate even pulled the sword from his body.

Just as he turned and sheathed his sword, his downcast eyes clearly showing his distress, I stopped in front of him with a frown. He looked up at me sadly, shoulders slumped and his mouth turned ever so slightly downwards. He had just turned his gaze back to the dirt when I swung out at him with a clenched fist, which soundly connected with his jaw hard enough to knock him backwards.

It had come as a surprise to everyone, I guessed, judging by the collective gasp from behind me, and the wide eyed look Nate gave me as he got back to his feet again "Are you dense? I told you that you can't interfere with this! These people have already been damned; there's nothing you can do to change that! And those souls you think you just did a favor for by letting them go? Either they're just going to wander out here, dying from dehydration before being reborn again the next day just to do it all over again! And that's only if a hellhound or who knows what else gets to them first! So stop being an idiot Nate; this is how things have always worked down here!" I yelled at him, not sure yet if I wanted to throw another punch at him or not.

In response to this, he took a step back and shook his head, looking as if what I had said had, in fact, gotten through to him "B-but…she was just a little girl…and the others…it's not like you know the fear they just felt right now anyways! _I_ don't even know a fraction of what they probably felt, but I knew that at least now they have a chance…! You were just going to let them be taken back for other demons to torture and do who knows what else to them!" he argued, and when my face went blank and I provided no reply for him, his lips parted just the slightest bit in realization. "That's right…" he murmured "You fell from up there too, and you were just about her age, right? You're a Black blood demon, so you were pushed down here like them…" he bit his lip, an apologetic look in his eyes "I forgot about that…I'm sorry" he sighed, glancing back over at the little girl's soul, which had pieced itself back together and was being led over to the wall by another demon that had come down from the top of the Gate.

"I did fall when I first got here. That was before I was brought to Master Paulet and he told me that I was to be reborn the very next day as a demon; the newest denizen of his district. But, you have one thing wrong…" I paused, a forlorn smile playing on my lips, and I could feel everyone's eyes on me as they listened.

"I wasn't pushed," I told them easily "I jumped. Now if you've calmed down, _little brother_, I suggest we get moving; the Rouges only live a few minutes away from the top"

It looked as if Nate thought he had forced me to share this bit of my story with him; like he thought I was angry with him. He opened his mouth as if to say something to me, but he shut it again right away; at a loss for words. "Don't worry, its fine" I assured him with a smile that eventually he returned in relief before I moved to stand by Damien "That's in the past, and now I have all of you guys, as problematic as you might be. I'm more than over it." I added, glaring halfheartedly at Damien as he ruffled my hair teasingly.

Now that we were so close to our goal, and the tension essentially gone completely, we were energized and more than ready to go.

A/N: So, this chapter was a little bit dark, but I needed something interesting to happen on their way to the Rogues...and then this happened. I'm seriously close to the end of this book, and I'm kind of sad; I've been working on this for about a year and a half now! There'll probably only be two more chapters, unless I feel like adding more character chapters. Until next time, please review (I haven't been getting too many lately...) and join me in mourning/celebrating the soon-to-be completion of Dawning Radiance!


	21. That's Suicide

Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Action/Romance

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them as they are my babies...enjoy!

Though we really had other places we needed to be, Malachi insisted that we find a place to rest for a little while, especially after everything we'd just endured in the past half hour or so.

So we all sat in a messy sort of formation as Malachi passed out the food he'd for some reason decided to pack with him "This isn't supposed to be a picnic, Angel" Damien grumbled in exasperation, but ate nonetheless.

Valshe however, stood up and announced that she wasn't hungry, before walking over to sit in the shade of the walls of the Gate with her knees pulled up to her chest.

At first, whenever either Nate or myself made a move to go ask her what was wrong, Malachi would simply motion for us to sit back down and tell us that she had just been through a lot, and that she probably needed a little time to herself.

Later on though, when she was still over there, and we were just about ready to head out again, I jogged over to her, despite Malachi's slight protests as I did so.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, sliding down the wall beside her, my hand moving to rest on her shoulder. Her face was buried in her arms, which almost made me think she was asleep, until I noticed that her shoulders were shaking just the slightest little bit. "Valshe? What's wrong?" I leaned closer to her and moved to put my arm around her shoulders to steady her, when she looked up at me, looking as if she were about to cry her heart out and threw her arms around me before resting her head on my shoulder.

She took a long steadying breath, and her hands tightened their grip on my shirt before she seemed to calm down a little. "I just…I think everything just hit me. Look at me; I ran away from home with two boys I didn't even know who claimed to be demons, got involved in the big war between the Angels and Demons, found out that I'm not even human, and am about to go fight some big battle with this big nasty foe just to turn back around and do what? What comes after this? I can't just go back to my regular life after what's happened! But I couldn't handle staying here forever either! And I'm still half expecting to just jolt up in my bed and realize this was just all some insanely elaborate dream I was somehow able to come up with!" she shook her head and her arms went slack around me.

"I just don't know what to do. I messed up, and I feel so alone now because of it."

My eyes widened as words continued to spill out of her lips, and I started to trail my fingers up and down her back in soothing patterns "Do you regret coming with us?" I questioned quietly, and for a while, she didn't respond.

Finally, she nodded slightly "It was stupid of me…and now I can't just go back, and I…I'm scared. Scared of what's going to happen after this. What am I supposed to do now? I'm all by myself now." she murmured, and I stiffened, looking down at her in surprise.

In retrospect, I don't know why I did this; I guess you could just say that instinct took over, but I grabbed her chin and forced it upwards before pressing my lips against hers tenderly.

Now it was Valshe's turn to stiffen, but I didn't really pay much mind to that. Her lips were soft and warm, and trembled against mine as I eagerly wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her closer, and that sweet, rain-and-rose smell that seemed to cling to her filled my nose.

When I pulled away after a few seconds and looked into the golden eyes of a still shocked Valshe, I smiled reassuringly at her "You're not by yourself," I whispered to her breathily "I'll always be right there when you need me. All of us will"

At this, she smiled too, and nodded with a contented little sigh "Why did I not see this coming?" she giggled quietly, her arms moving to rest around my shoulders before she very lightly kissed me again and stood back up, offering me her hand to help me to my feet. "You said it yourself; you've had a lot going on lately" I teased, standing up beside her, but not letting go of her hand.

It was still the same way it was that first night I'd met her; small and warm and gentle in my own calloused hand, and I smirked a little at the memory. "I think we should get going while all of their jaws are still on the floor" Valshe laughed, and I looked up, just remembering where we were and what we were supposed to be doing.

Indeed, all of their mouths were slightly open; probably shocked by the sudden scene in front of them, though their expressions all changed when they noticed us looking at them, before they all turned around completely, as if caught doing something wrong.

'Now', I thought to myself with satisfaction 'I'm ready to head out'; and with a small smile, and Valshe's hand in mine, our group headed off to finally finish the journey we'd already started what seemed like ages ago.

Sneaking into the expansive facility that the Rogues had built up wasn't exactly an easy feat. Guards were lined up at each of the entrances, and surveillance of all different sorts was hidden expertly in every nook and cranny you could think of.

Of course, they obviously didn't count on having someone as high up in the Demi Eras class as Damien to be scouting around their little base camp, calculating flaws in the systems and plotting the best way to go about breaking in with the smallest scene as possible.

Finally, he raised a brow at me and sighed "I can use an illusionary Arte to get us past the guards, but then they'd know something was up when they killed the illusion and it faded, otherwise, there seems to be a old entrance around the other side of the building and hidden off by a bunch of stone. It has surveillance around it, but it looks like it's hardly used, so if I could black those out for a while, it might be a little while before they notice it." He paused and bit his lip, obviously deep in his plans.

"And even when they do notice, they might just think that because it's older, that it might've just gone off like that on it's own…I don't know how heavily guarded the inside of there would be, but it's quite a ways farther away from our target. If there are a lot of guards in there, we could be in trouble before we even get anywhere near Kari." He grumbled, and Malachi nodded to himself. "So at this point" he began, chin in one hand "It'll be based upon how lucky each of us are feeling" he shook his head, but smiled mysteriously.

Having been silent for a while, Valshe tapped her foot thoughtfully "We might as well risk going that unused route. I mean, really; if we just bust down their front door, we're not going to have much of a chance either! If things get hard, we can just back out, right?" she piped in, and Damien nodded "Nobody else seems to care either way, so why not?" he said, looking from Valshe to me with a barely there smirk on his face.

So from there, we made our way around the building, where, as Damien had said, was an entrance hidden behind some large stones, just barely far enough away from the door to squeeze past. It took Damien a little bit of time to get the surveillance offline, but after he'd gotten those taken care of, we made it into the virtually empty halls of what looked to be an abandoned infirmary of some sort.

There were cabinets and examination tables, trays where rusty utensils lay unused by anyone, and the sounds of feet quietly clacking down the chipped linoleum floors. "Oh, I _hate_ hospitals…" Valshe murmured with a shudder as she looked around in dismay. Hesitantly, I linked my fingers with hers, and squeezed gently "What, you aren't afraid of a few needles, are you?" I teased, and she stuck her tongue out at me.

"For your information, yes I am terrified of needles. I can't do shots at all. I don't know why I don't like hospitals though; they've just always creeped me out…" she replied, glancing around in a few of the small, empty rooms with a grimace.

We made our way down the halls without much cause for worry, though it looked like once we stepped out of the doors we'd be in the main area of their base, though Malachi said he wasn't able to sense anybody on the other side of the door.

Carefully, Damien poked his head out the door and glanced around, before moving to look around the corner and then back the other way down the hall. He turned and nodded at us, but brought his fingers to his lips to suggest that we be completely silent from here on out.

As we continued through the dirty grey, seemingly endless hallways, Damien would stop every now and again and pull out his Oni, in the portable form, and draw an Arte symbol quickly on the wall, where it shone brightly before it faded into the wall, unnoticeable. The longer this went on, the more curious the looks both Valshe and Nate gave him each time he'd stop us. Finally, while Damien was making another, Nate turned to me and pointed to Damien, looking confused "It's an Arte" I whispered, though we were pretty sure at this point that this wing of the facility was deserted as well.

The face he made suggested that he was not impressed by my response, and he shook his head with a sigh "Well I know _that; _I'm not stupid. What is it supposed to do? I don't recognize the rune" he questioned, following Damien again as he continued down the hall in the serious way he carried out all of the important missions he was sent on.

Before I could even open my mouth to reply, Damien stole a glance over his shoulder at Nate "It's to tell me which way we're going. They automatically connect to the other Artes of the same kind and can tell me if anyone has passed by one after I've made it. A pretty useful trick I've picked up over the years" he explained with a sly grin, leading us towards another door leading into a particularly noisy room.

Malachi stopped dead in his tracks as soon as Damien made to grab the handle, and reached out a hand to pull him back. "What's your problem Angel? You could've given us away!" Damien growled, but Malachi didn't seem to hear him.

Instead, he glanced around the hall with narrowed eyes "I sense…something strong. I can't make out who, or what it is because it's too far away, but we're getting closer, so we should watch ourselves. A group this large is sure to attract attention in a large room like this one, and because there are bound to be Rogues in the room ahead, it would be foolish to risk detection at this point. We should split into smaller units." He suggested, but Damien shook his head. "If anything, that would be even more stupid than staying in a large group; if we split up and one group gets spotted, it's more likely that one of us will get injured, or taken out completely. If you guys just follow exactly what I tell you to do, we should be able to get through easily enough. Got it?" Damien ordered, though Malachi didn't look one bit convinced.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what we should do at this point either; splitting up _would _make it easier for them to pick us off, but if we stayed in the big group and we were found, we'd probably be swarmed with twice as many demons anyways. But…Damien knew what he was doing when it came to situations like these, so maybe it would just be best to listen to him.

"We might as well just listen to Damien; he's probably better at this sort of thing that any of us are. Besides, strength in numbers and all that" I said, glancing around to gauge everyone's reactions.

There was no out-right disapproval, but you could tell Malachi and Nate were nervous at best; typically Holy Ethereals opted into working in smaller groups, but that had always made them easy to take out once you found them. But we couldn't really chance it in a place this big, with this many potential threats around.

Damien smirked at me before nodding to everyone "I guess that's that then, isn't it? Let's get moving!" he ordered, pushing the door open a crack and quickly surveyed the room as he slipped silently through the small opening, the rest of us following behind him.

Even though the outside of the building and that hospital wing had looked trashy at best, it was like walking into a completely different place. The lights hung from the high ceiling were bright, and there was a set of stairs leading up about three flights to a hallway that spanned the whole back wall with three or four doors along it.

The Rogues bustling through the room made it seem like they were too busy to really notice us, though they would probably all sense Malachi and Nate right away if they hadn't started to already.

"Can't you guys hide yourselves or something? They could probably smell you from a mile away…" I grumbled at them, and they looked at each other and shrugged "You will not be able to see us at all either then, Little Demon. Are you sure that is a wise choice?" Malachi replied, though instead of looking at me while he talked like he usually did, his gaze was fixed on the Demons in the room ahead of us. "Just do what he says Angel! If you get us spotted while we're trying to get through the first room, I'll kill you myself!" Damien hissed, turning around to glare at Malachi before peeking out of the door again.

Malachi smiled and nodded, before muttering his spell and disappearing completely, though when I looked back over at Nate, he was leaning close to Valshe, whispering something to her, before she gave a tiny smile and nodded. A small, but intense wave of jealousy washed over me at how close the two were, and at the fact that I had absolutely no idea what he had said to her in the first place. Nate grinned back at her "That way you won't lose us. You really won't have to worry though; we'll be right behind you, okay?" he said as he straightened, before the spell passed over his lips as well and he was gone from sight.

Catching my staring, Valshe looked up at me, and tilted her head to the side a little bit "Something wrong?" she asked me, and I smirked at her "I just don't like the fact that you're do far away is all" I teased, and she rolled her eyes and laughed "I'll be right behind you. You shouldn't be jealous of your own little brother, Xander" she taunted back, and quickly spun around and moved towards the door "I'm not jealous of the Nephilim!" I retorted, causing her to giggle again.

Looking over my shoulder at her one last time before I moved into the room with Damien, I noticed that her hand was curled oddly, as if holding something. But it appeared empty. As she started to follow me, her arm trailed a bit behind her and I realized that she must have been holding his hand. So she wouldn't lose track of where he was.

Even if it was for something as seemingly innocent as that, I was still irritated as I exited the room and made my way smoothly over to Damien, who upon seeing both Valshe and myself following him, slipped into the crowd of Rogues wandering through the building, blending in as best he could.

We weaved through the crowd toward the stairs, since we assumed that Kari would probably be on one of the higher floors. We reached them fairly quickly, and took them two at a time to get to the next floor as fast as we could. "I thought the Holy Ethereals were supposed to be able to tell if a particularly strong Demon was close by" Damien complained quietly, and we heard a low chuckle from beside us "We can" Malachi whispered, so I had to strain to hear him "It is just…proving to be rather difficult at this time. She must be hiding somewhere deeper in the facility." He explained, before he fell to silence once more, and it was again as if he wasn't even there.

We climbed another flight of stairs, since Malachi couldn't yet sense her; she had to be higher up, down the corridor with those doors all along it. Upon reaching the hallway, we again realized that the area around us was deserted; none of the Rogues came this far up the stairs, but stayed on the two floors below us. Ignoring it, we made our way down the hallway, looking around for anything that might have at least given us a clue as to where Kari might be.

The further we got, the more I got the feeling that we had been found, or were close to it, but Damien seemed to think nothing of it, and pressed on nonetheless. Of course, with our luck being as wonderful as it was, a door swung open, and a man in combat wear stepped out, noticing the three of us immediately, his gruff, stubble shadowed face obviously showing his distaste and scrunching into a firm scowl.

"What do you three think you're doing up here?" he barked, circling us like a hell hound would it's prey "Everyone knows that nobody's allowed on this floor without a good excuse!"

Always one to think on his feet during a mission, Damien nodded, changing his expression to one of nervousness and mock fear. "Yes sir, of course! It's just that…Kari…she sent us up here to tell you that she thinks there's a group of Faction members that managed to get in!" he stammered, though the man still looked suspicious.

He appeared to think about it for a moment or two, his face set, and he'd stopped circling us to look the three of us in the eyes "Kari said that she didn't want to see anyone for a while. Why would she tell you newbies to come get me instead of one of her footmen?" he questioned, and I stepped up "How should we know? Kari asked us to do something and we did it! We're not stupid enough to stick around and question her!" I replied, and he nodded "I see. I'll go see her immediately. You three wait in that room there; I'll be right back." He said before running off down the hallway, and down the stairs again.

"She's downstairs?" Damien groaned, running a hand through his hair, his violet eyes exasperated, but he turned to look at the door the man had come out of "Maybe we should wait in there anyways. He could bring her back up…" Damien thought aloud, wandering over to the door and muttering more plans of action to himself. When I glanced at Valshe, I noticed that she no longer appeared to be holding onto Nate's hand, but she looked worried, so I held my own out to her "It'll be fine" I assured her as she put her hand in mine and I squeezed it gently. "Nothing to worry about" I murmured to her, and she took a deep breath, meeting my eyes only briefly before casting them at the floor again.

It took a minute or so of him pacing up and down a short stretch of the hallway, grumbling to himself in determination, before Damien clicked his tongue once and slid open the door to the room the Rogue had told us to wait in. "You four go in here, and I'll keep watch for when he comes back. If things don't look good, we'll have to hide out again for a little while and try again once we have a new plan. Got it?" he told us confidently, and we all obeyed, entering the room one by one, but I was stopped by Damien before I could get in. He shut the door silently and looked at me for a moment "This isn't going as well as I'd originally hoped it would. Stay on your toes in case anything happens, okay Xander? If all else fails, I'll have to distract them while you all finish up the mission without me…" he tailed off, face contorting into a small grimace of sorts as he talked.

I shook my head immediately "No way I'm going to leave you to deal with this many Rogues by yourself, Damien. That's suicide! We can think of something else, some other way to finish up the mission, or-" I fell silent when I noticed the immovable look he was giving me, his violet eyes darker set than usual; he was completely serious about this. "I _said, _if all else fails. And it's either that, or we all die. I'd rather keep it at just one and below if I can help it. Don't be stubborn about this, Xander; my mind is set." He stated calmly, practically daring me to argue with him.

"Let's just hope it doesn't have to come to that then…" I somehow managed to reply, and Damien gave a smile and held out his hand "C'mon, don't let it bother you too much. We're still a team, you and me, so we gotta make sure we can live long enough to get something enjoyable out of all this; don't forget that. This is just my way of making sure you get something better out of this life than you did in your last." He explained, and my eyes narrowed a bit "Well, Heaven…I can't exactly say no to that, can I?" I shot back, grasping his hand in my own and giving it a firm shake, before letting it drop back to my side.

"Let's take 'em down, okay?" he prompted, grinning at me as I opened the door.

"Just like always" I confirmed with a determined smile of my own.

Leaving it at that, I stepped into the room and slid the door shut behind me, allowing my eyes to adjust to the sudden dim lighting of the space I was now in.

Valshe sat on the floor next to the door, and she looked up quickly when I entered "Xander…is he really…?" she murmured when I turned to her, and I assumed they'd heard everything that had been said between Damien and I right before. I simply shook my head and sat down beside her "I don't want to thin about that now…" I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

She pushed herself up and leaned against the wall, holding her hand out to pull me up as well. "Can I tell you something?" she asked quietly, her hand lingering for a few seconds before slipping out of mine again "Anything" I say honestly, though her request worried me slightly.

"I'm really scared. Not because of the situation, but…ever since we got here I've just gotten this horrible feeling. Like something bad is going to happen to one of us. So, especially now that Damien…I don't want anything to happen to anyone. I want everyone who came in here to leave with us too. You guys might be used to losing friends and everything, but…I dunno how I could handle it…" she sighed, biting her lip nervously. Glancing over to the door, and then back to her, I put my hand gently on her shoulder and let it run up and down her arm a few times "Don't worry; we'll figure something out. No matter what happens, things will turn out okay" I assured her with a smile, and I heard one of the other two sigh.

"I'm here to watch over you if anything happens, too. Remember?" Nate said, and she turned to him, looking concerned before nodding nervously. "I remember…" she replied hesitantly, before clenching her fists and tensing up.

Then, she jumped up in the air, spreading her arms above her head and landing with a determined expression "You guys won't be the only ones trying though! I'm not going to let myself be a burden here! I'll do my best for all of you!" she told us, before pacing the room restlessly.

I couldn't quite tell whether her enthusiasm was something I should be worried about or not.

To the reviewers: indescribable music: Thanks! This chapter took me forever to put up, but I really hope you'll like this one as well!

A/N: Yeah. Well. I know this took forever to put up, and that I've been on hiatus for however many months now, and I apologize a ton for that. A lot has been happening with just...ugh, life in general lately, and I haven't been able to write anything up until tonight. Hopefully there are still people reading this! I know this chapter is a bit rocky, but I tried my best to smooth it out a bit as I went on. The next chapter will hopefully go better, and will actually be in Rey's POV! I'm kind of excited to write in his perspective actually; it's going to be a lot different that what I usually do. And as usual, there's always a surprise in the other character POV chapters, so...look forward to it! Until next time, please review, and try not to let yourself go on month long hiatus' like I did! I'll try really hard not to let it happen again!


	22. No Good to Me Dead

Story: Dawning Radiance

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them as they are my babies...enjoy~

Time dragged endlessly by; the four of us silent aside from a sigh here, or scuff of the feet there. No word from Damien yet…it was as though everything had frozen in the time since I'd come into the room.

Slowly, I made my way over to the door and slid it open just a crack, peeking out to see what was happening in the hall. Damien leaned idly against the wall, managing to look completely relaxed, and infallibly alert all at the same time. His eyes flitted to me once before continuing to scan the hall "Something up?" he asked me in a voice a little less than a whisper "Nothing. Everything just seems quiet is all. Maybe we should go look around a bit more?" I suggested, and he shrugged nonchalantly.

"I suppose that's something we could try; I'm started to get stiff just standing around out here anyways!" he grunted, pushing away from the wall and opening the door the rest of the way "C'mon guys, we're gonna look around some more. This is way too boring for me" he commented, and headed back the way we'd come down the hall.

We headed back down the stairs, looking for the Rogue that had been outside the room, or anything else suspicious as we went. Once we reached the first level again, where all of the Rogues were scattering about like bees in a hive, we looked around for a place he was likely to have gone. It didn't take long; Valshe pointed out an executive looking door on one of the walls further from us, and we moved towards that. "Wha'd you want? Kari's usin' the training grounds now, so ge' lost!" a man told us with a glare. He had a slurred way of speaking that suggested he was drunk, though he didn't appear to be. Either he was just a lazy speaker, or he had an odd accent of some kind.

"Allow me to handle this" Malachi told us smoothly, and all of a sudden, the Rogue man gasped and went limp; we had to move his body elsewhere so we didn't make too big of a scene.

After that had been taken care of, we entered the room, and Damien was promptly met with the tip of a beautifully sharpened katana to the tip of his nose. At the other end of the blade, Kari was smirking smugly. "Thought you could sneak up on me, did you? I knew you would come here; it was just a matter of time. So I've been waiting for you to show up!" she chuckled, and Damien glared at her "Why wouldn't you have us intercepted then?" he inquired, and she only laughed again.

Swiftly, and giving Damien almost no reaction time, she shoved the blade forwards, and Damien immediately bent backwards, avoiding the feint before standing back straight. "Because I don't need the others to help me kill you children; that's something I can do myself. Don't you prefer it this way?" she replied, voice lulling and silkily deceptive.

Eyes narrowed, Damien watched as she withdrew her sword and turned her back on us; strolling towards the middle of the gigantic, circular room.

I instinctively reached for my sword; when an enemy is stupid enough to turn their back to you, it'll be the last choice they ever made. That's what I was taught. But Damien noticed and gripped my arm just above the elbow and shook his head "It's what she wants you to do" he said before following after Kari, the rest of us trailing behind him after a few moments hesitation.

"Don't you just love my play house? I built it all myself, board by board all for my little army of Rogues and our hatred for you Faction members and the Holy Ethereals." She paused and sighed dramatically, before crossing her arms and becoming serious. "I'm not an unfair person, you know. If you want to fight me, then fine; let's take care of things right now, if you think you're ready. But, since I was _kind_ enough to come here alone, this will be one on one. Unless of course you're scared…?" she taunted, hip stuck out smugly.

Rolling my eyes and unsheathing my sword, I stepped forward "Fine. I'll finish you off then" I replied, but Damien held out his hand "I dunno…you were pretty fired up that first time. I'll go" he told me, and I glared at him.

But to my surprise, Valshe was the one who moved to stand in front of Kari while Damien and I had been arguing. Her eyes were hardened, and shone like amber under a particularly intense flame "I still owe you one from last time" she stated simply, never breaking their eye contact once.

Kari laughed and shook her head "Look, girl; a human can't take down an Ethereal! It's unheard of. Why don't you just give up and go cry back to your mother?" she snarled, swinging her katana viciously through the air. "Well, I'm already something that's apparently unheard of, so why don't I try for this too? It can't be too hard with all your preening" Valshe hissed back, without missing a beat, and slipped into the agile fighting position that Nate and Rey had taught her.

Bristling at the edge of the little sparring arena, I watched as the two circled each other, malice fresh in their eyes and blades poised to kill.

Valshe wasn't ready for this. Not yet.

I was tense, and my fists were clenched, and I realized that Damien was holding me back from running out in between them, while I thrashed wildly against his grip. "Xander! If you run out there now, you'll only distract her and she'll get hurt again! Nate and Malachi are over there, so if things get too be too much for her, they can step in easily since she can't see either of them. Let Valshe take care of things for now." He grunted, and I shook my head "No! No, I can't let her get hurt again! She's not ready for this! Cut it out Damien! Let me save her!" I panted out between attempts to get free.

The crash of metal colliding with metal made me stop cold though and stare back up at Valshe and Kari.

"Xander; this isn't going to last much longer before one of the others step in. Promise me now you won't try to take Kari out on your own; you get way too hot headed for your own good and then you don't think. Either let me help you, or just let me kill her. Understand?" Damien growled at me, looking from me to the squabble in front of us. "No; I can do it myself. I want to do it myself." I shot back, eyes glued to Valshe.

"You don't get a choice in this; you're no good to me dead! Promise me!" he demanded, a barely noticeable note of pleading in his voice. I sighed, looking over at him stubbornly for a moment before nodding "Fine; I promise" I agreed, turning my attention back to the fight.

Kari really wasn't holding anything back even though it was the beginning of the fight, and though Valshe was keeping up well enough, Kari's speed would most likely make her burn out sooner or later.

I just hoped it would be later.

Completely on defense, Valshe twisted and turned to protect herself from the singing speed of the blade coming at her over and over again, when suddenly, she caught an opening and quickly as she could, shoved her own sword forwards.

"Huh?"

Valshe's sword had just kissed the skin of Kari's shoulder, causing a tiny bloom of blood to appear there, and had turned so she was standing beside Kari's dominant arm, before attempting to disarm her as quickly as she could.

It was a good try, and made her at least slightly lose her grip on her blade, but it never left her hand. Instead, Valshe swiftly took a slash at her that tore effectively over her shoulder and collarbone, leaving a trail of brilliant red in its wake.

A shocked hiss escaped her lips at the sudden contact, and she leapt back swiftly, pressing a hand to the wound and looking in awe at her hand when it came away bloody. "You're going to regret that, human!" she growled, lunging at Valshe at a break neck speed, missing by barely an inch when Valshe half tripped, half side-stepped her in surprise.

She whipped around and let her wings burst from her back, jumping into the air and taking diving jabs at Valshe, who was back on the complete defense again.

All Kari had to do was fly lower and lower like she was doing, and with the speed she was hacking away at Valshe, she would have to land a blow at some point.

However, she lasted quite a bit longer than I'd thought she would before eventually, Kari managed to knock her off balance, and she fell, hitting the ground hard before she had much of a chance to catch herself.

"No…!" I practically whimpered as the events from not long ago began to repeat themselves in my mind; Valshe on the ground, Kari standing over her with her sword poised for a final brutal blow.

Valshe deflected the first few piercing movements made at her, but eventually her blade was effectively knocked away from her and was sent sliding loudly across the shiny wood floors.

Instinctively grabbing Kari's leg and pulling her so she would lose her balance, Valshe scrambled out from under her in an attempt to get her sword back.

Running towards the two before Kari could make her move, I stopped dead in my tracks as Kari slashed, looking like she had Valshe finished off.

Until of course, an unseen force collided with her and brought her skipping painfully over the ground, before Nate appeared, frowning angrily at the woman on the ground before him. "Stay out of this, Nephil!" she spat, vaulting back to her feet with a snarl.

"What kind of Guardian Angel would that make me? Just be glad I wasn't able to step in before this." He told her, leveling his own sword, crackling and coursing with powerful electricity, at her. Another word passed from his lips, and quickly—much faster than when he'd shown me, his being split and his brother was standing next to him, a particularly vicious grin twisting his features.

At seeing this, Kari laughed "Oh, right. You're the broken one. You want to try your luck, then fine. I'll get done with you quickly!" she yelled, taking a few steps back so she was just a foot or so away from the wall.

And an alarm latch.

She yanked the handle and a siren began wailing loudly before other Rogues began to enter the room in a hurry, drawing their weapons and singling us all out pretty quickly. "Looks like all bets are off!" Damien grinned before calling up his Oni and taking out two or three of the Rogues in front of him with one excited slash.

I headed over to Valshe's side, and she gave me a tired grin "I tried!" she sighed, catching her breath. All I could do was shake my head and pull her tightly into my arms "You did. But what the Heaven were you thinking? She was going to kill you! And then…" she put a slim finger to my lips "Not exactly a good time to be having this talk, you know" she murmured, pulling herself out of my grasp "We still have work to do!" she exclaimed, turning just in time to see Malachi slice right through a particularly unlucky demon who had started to go after Valshe.

"Fine; later. Just…don't do that again, okay? You scared me to death..." I grumbled, and she gave me a reassuring smile "Technically you already are dead, so you don't have too much to worry about" she giggled, blocking a blow from another Rogue before countering with a move of her own; disarming the man and then running him through. She cringed a bit, biting her lip to steel herself before wiping some of the blood splatter off her face with the back of her hand.

I smiled a little; she was still so much more innocent than the rest of us were, still hesitating slightly at the thought of taking the life of another "Looks like those twins did teach you a thing or two" I commented, making my way over to Kari where Nate and Rey were fending off both her and quite a few of her subordinates.

Tightening my grip on my sword, I plunged into the fight with them, seeing a blast of fire out of the corner of my eyes from a rune Damien had drawn up, while he whooped and laughed, slashing at Rogue after Rogue with excitement. Malachi barely had to put forth any effort, it seemed, using two shorter blades that were immersed in a bright, burning light, that hissed viciously when it came into contact with any one adversary that dared to face him.

Valshe was doing pretty well herself, though Damien was staying as close to her as he could without her getting upset at him for worrying about her too much, though she was still slightly hesitant, was protecting herself and dealing out quite a bit of damage; even managed to use a few pulses of electricity that I hadn't even realize she'd been taught how to use.

Of course, the two responsible for teaching her that were showing no mercy in double teaming anyone who got in their range, though they were mainly trying to cut a path over to Kari so they could just finish her themselves.

What I wasn't expecting, was to see Kari stroll up to me with an easy smile, her allies encircling the two of us to close us off from the rest of the fighting going on "After what happened up in Heaven I'd been wondering what the name of the little Faction demon that bested me was named. Care to indulge me?" she asked, smile not fading in the slightest "Xander Costello" I told her, face and tone neutral.

"Xander…what a nice name; very fitting in my opinion. You know, I've honestly been hoping that I'd have a chance to take you out myself after what happened back up in Heaven before. I didn't appreciate that very much at all" she cooed, taking a step towards me while I took one back; letting her get close wasn't a good idea at all.

"Yeah, I was hoping for the same thing" I replied smoothly, backing into a Rogue, who spun around and shoved me back towards Kari. "Good, good! Since the feeling is mutual, how about we play for a while; just the two of us? It shouldn't take too long, since I'm planning on dealing with you quickly!" she laughed, swinging at me rapidly and missing by a mere inch when I sprung back.

I grabbed my Oni from my belt and swung it outwards, though it hesitated slightly before shooting up and growing that glinting midnight blue orb in the beginning of the deadly looking blade. I leveled the scythe in my hands and prepared to battle, taking a long swing at her before my promise to Damien rang in the back of my mind. He was busy fighting off the other Rogues though, and even if he wasn't, it would be more than difficult for him to cut through all of those boxing the two of us in. I could take her myself; I just had to remember to keep my head.

Kari grinned and clapped "Ooooh, this should be fun!" she squealed, before her face turned serious and she dodged my swing "Get ready, boy" she snarled, and our violent dance began.

Metal sang and crashed against each other in a never ending flurry of attacks and blocks, though neither of us was giving an inch; I was concentrating so hard I didn't even notice that the others had noticed me fighting her yet.

She was still faster than me; a disadvantage I didn't exactly appreciate having, though no matter how fast she was, I never allowed her to get close enough to actually strike me. But of course, all at once she made a straight dash forwards, ducking under my slash and sending her katana plunging forward into my torso, just scraping past my ribcage with a wet slicking sound.

Pulling back away before she could hit anything important, I spun low with my scythe, knocking her off balance before straightening up with a quiet groan, wasting no time taking advantage of her loss of stability and catching her down the back as she jumped away.

Giving a yelp, she whirled around and we started back up again, switching between offense and defense with barely a thought towards what we were doing.

This continued for a long while, I was starting to feel the fatigue creep up on me from having to swing around such a large weapon; even with it being much lighter than most other scythes out there. It didn't seem Kari was feeling the same way, which worried me a bit; hopefully she was just good at hiding it.

Of course, things could never just be a bit bad for me; they always had to get worse, and the scratching that had been building up in my throat came to be too much, and I coughed, sending blood splattering onto the ground before me, sapping my strength just long enough for Kari to slam me down, causing me to smack my head on the wooden floor, still coughing roughly.

I felt sticky warmth on my head, though I couldn't tell if it was from blood that I'd hacked up, or if I was actually wounded there. I struggled against Kari, who had me pinned with her feet so I couldn't get up, swinging her sword at any expanse of skin she could reach before I was finally able to make her stumble, though she was able to get one final stab in, I threw it off so it dug into the middle of my back, off to the left.

Not a sound escaped my lips at the intensity of the pain rushing over me, and I staggered to stand up, her katana still stuck into my back and making it difficult to straighten all the way. I reached behind me and yanked it out, throwing it behind me and grabbing my scythe off of the ground at my feet before rushing at her, making a clean arc that all but ran her through.

"H-how…that should have…killed you…!" she panted out as she fell back, hitting the floor with a thud. "I'm not about to let myself be killed by someone like you." I chuckled, watching as her breath grew even more ragged and faded; she was finished. "Not without taking you with me at least." I sighed, feeling my scythe drop out of my hand as my vision swam and I stumbled about, trying to keep my balance and ultimately failing, falling to my knees and raising my hands to my mouth; hoping to quell the coughs that I had only just realized were raking through me.

Muffled; as though through a pool of water, I heard Damien yelling at me, sounding panicked; trying to keep me from falling into that warm darkness that was pulling so insistently at me. "Xander! Xander! I told you not to go against her alone; you promised! Don't you _dare _go to sleep, you hear me? Don't you dare!" there was a pound next to me; I assumed he'd punched the floor or something like that.

When I started to focus a bit more, I noticed that I was staring up at the ceiling; when had I hit the ground? I couldn't even tell. Everything hurt, and I could barely get enough breath to say anything to Damien, not that I would've had much of anything to say anyways.

"Stupid, you're not supposed to be so valiant; you're a Demon for crying out loud." I heard Rey say before I saw him hovering over me, reaching under me to pick me up. "What're you doing? Don't move him; he'll die!" I heard Damien exclaim, turning my head just enough to see him shoving Rey away from me "Well what the hell am I supposed to do then? He's going to die if we just let him lay here too!" Rey argued, shoving Damien back. Nate stepped up beside me while they fought, sliding his arms under me and picking me up with a grunt "Try to stay awake, okay? You'll die if you let yourself black out" he told me gently, and I gave a pained whine of sorts, partially to reply to him, and partially in response to how warm he was compared to me.

Damien and Rey were still fighting, and from the sound of it, they were taking blows at each other at this point, until I heard Malachi step in "Quit your incessant bickering you two, it's only making the situation worse! Rey, you're not proving anything by fighting a comrade, and Damien, you should be taking care of things instead of wasting your time with this!" he barked, and the two stopped, crossing their arms and glaring at each other. "Fine, whatever." Rey snarled, standing down, though Damien wasn't so forgiving.

"Screw you!" he hissed back at Malachi "I'm the leader of this mission; it's not for you to decide what I can and cannot do!" he growled, turning on heel and stomping towards the door "We're leaving!" he ordered as he did so, and I just barely heard Malachi give a small chuckle; Damien had reacted in exactly the way he'd planned.

Once out of the building, the coolness of the air around us made my lungs clench up and I began to cough weakly, trying to spit out the blood that had pooled in my mouth, but failing.

Familiar sounds reached my ears, and I was surprised to find that we had already reached the Gate again, and we came to a stop "It'll take us too long to get to the bottom" Rey commented before I heard the unfurling of wings "Then we'll have to fly from here! It'll be faster anyways!" Damien replied as he jumped from the edge, zipping towards the exit, the others following suit while I felt the wind whip around me, trying to pull me from Nate's grasp.

"Xander, you have to stay awake. Open your eyes! Xander!" Nate called, trying to get my attention, though I could only just hear him as I started to plummet into the vast darkness that surrounded me. "Xander! Hey, we don't have much time left!" Nate told the others, and I heard someone else hover beside him "Urgh…we have to move faster! Keep up with me!" Damien replied just as I fell completely away.

I sat up tenderly, expecting a shock of pain that never came. Everything around me was a bright, milky white, and I pushed myself to my feet, taking a few steps further into the nothingness.

Was this what there was after you died as an Ethereal? Nothing? "Hey! Is anyone else here?" I yelled, looking around and listening hard for a response, before hearing the click of metal heeled combat boots behind me. "Costello. You're in quite a bit of a bind, aren't you?" a familiar voice said behind me, and I whipped around to face the person.

Standing with her arms crossed, a small smile of amusement apparent on her pale features, stood Mistress Haruka, her crimson shaded eyes trained on me as she approached. "Mistress Haruka!" I bowed my head at her, but she waved me off "Please, drop the formalities, Costello. Call me Ivy" she replied with a sigh.

I must've looked as shocked as I felt, because she gave a quiet laugh "It took a lot of effort to be able to force a dream on you, you know. I don't know if it's because you block your mind off so well, or if it's because I'm out of practice though" she told me, shaking her head a bit. "Force a dream…? This is a dream?" I asked, and she looked at me, before colors began to seep into the whiteness around us and form a scene, with us floating above it all.

"Yes, a dream. I assume you know about my old position as a holy Ethereal?" she returned, and I nodded hesitantly "Good, that makes things easier. I was cast out because of a certain incident that I found to be unjust that I took a stand for. The High Seraph did not expel me from Heaven; I chose to take the fall of my own accord because I felt as though there were many holy Ethereals that were becoming corrupt, and I wanted to do something to stop it." She explained as the scene solidified a bit more, starting to take shape.

"That incident is…"

A/N: Yeah, so...another update that seriously took forever to get done. Well, on the bright side, I have two of them for you; this one, and then the next one, which is in Rey's POV! That one is super short though, just to tell you, because I could only write a little bit before going "BUT WAIT, I HAVE TO GET BACK TO ME CLIFFHANGING MYSELF!" So...yeah. Chapter 24 is even almost done, so it should be up later today or tomorrow, so keep and eye out for that!

Yes, I know I'm mean, letting my poor Xander get so hurt like that, but there's more to come, so hopefully you all won't hate me by the time this is through! Until next time, please review, and avoid the fighting with the Demons!


	23. The Hidden Feelings of Rey

Story: Dawning Radiance

Rating: T

Claimer: Each and every character in this story is mine, so please do not use them as they are my babies...enjoy!

This was all so exhausting. Not even five minutes of being back and there was already so much going on. How useless it all was.

I had decided to get away from all of the questioning and the disapproving looks that those Demons were giving me. Though it was amusing when a few Under Dwellers would scramble at my feet in fear, it was all just too much at once that I didn't even want to deal with in the first place.

So, I sat in the room that was apparently Xander's, with him laying on the bed pale as snow, his chest barely rising and falling with ragged breaths. They had given him something to stop the coughing fits he had been having earlier, but they still didn't think he would make it.

Served him right for trying to take on so much by himself.

It was still hard to believe that this was the one that Nate had been looking for all this time; we'd both been expecting a human, so this was definitely a shock to both of us. Not that I really minded; at least he could watch after himself, while a human was helpless compared to an Ethereal.

Much as he pisses me off, I can't say too many bad things about him; heck, most of the time he has the right idea about things, and every once in a while he can even be somewhat amusing to say the least.

He's not so bad.

Even still, for him to have gone and fought that Rogue all by himself? That was a stupid move even I wouldn't have pulled, pissed off or not. Sure, he was trying to save everyone, but look where that's gotten him! Stuck in a bed hooked up to a bunch of different machines without much hope at all that he was going to make it through.

This was so pointless; why was I so worried? It's not like I'd known him long, and I was more than used to death, but…this was upsetting. Nate was pretty shaken up as well; I'd had to drag him away when he'd first brought Xander in here, he was so worried.

It's just like when our mom died back when Nate was young; Nigathiel always had to pick him up and carry him out of the room in order to get him to leave her side. The poor kid would fall asleep leaning over on her lap while she pet his head, a tiny little smile on her face.

Maybe that's why. Xander didn't look exactly like our mother did, but he had the same eyes, the same smile. The same stubborn protectiveness she had. Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, we were brothers; even if we'd only known that for a little while, it didn't change that fact.

For some reason, both of us had gotten close to him, and it was hard seeing him bed ridden like this when he was usually so much different. It was painful, even.

I sighed as I looked down at him, reaching out to ruffle his hair as his face suddenly twisted in pain "You're not allowed to quit now. Not after giving me so much hell" I grumbled, biting my lip and casting my eyes downwards.

His mumbled words, however made me snap my head back up. "Nnn…c-can't…nnnnn…" he groaned quietly, and I leaned towards him the slightest bit "Can't what? Speak up" I snapped out, not about to let him hear that I've been worrying about him.

A low whine escaped his throat; his pain medication was probably starting to wear off. "Can…'t…bre…breathe…" he panted, though I didn't think he was conscious. The way he was talking, it was probably just him talking in his sleep.

According to his monitor, his breathing was a bit weak, but it was getting him by fine, so I didn't want to mess with it. For all I knew, that would just make it even worse.

"You'll be fine" I told him instead, trying my best to ignore the small whines and groans that were leaving him. I stood up and walked over to his dresser, where various things were laying; a few buttons, a small stack of papers filled out to document different missions and assignments that he'd yet to turn in, a coffee mug with a couple of pens and pencils in it.

What really caught my attention though, was the little square box pushed off in the back, behind all of the other things. I picked it up and turned it over in my hands a few times, hearing a few things rattle inside of it.

Turning to look over at Xander, then back at the box, I sighed and put it back on the shelf; it wasn't my right to go through his crap, and even if, it probably wasn't half as interesting as it seemed anyways.

I started to leave the room when all of a sudden the machine beside his bed started to beep annoyingly, indicating that something was wrong. Spinning around and moving quickly to the bed, I looked at monitor, watching all of his numbers start to drop rapidly; breathing rate, blood pressure, heart rate, before all of them zeroed at once and the machine let out a loud, long trill.

My eyes widened and I froze for a minute, just starting at the monitor and then back at Xander, who had indeed stopped breathing. Pressing my hands firmly to his chest, I sent a burst of electricity coursing through him, causing him limp body to spasm lifelessly, though aside from that there was no response.

Again. He wasn't dying that easily.

Still nothing; I clenched my fists in frustration and let out an angered growl, pressing my hands to his chest once more an putting an almost dangerous shock ripping into him. It'd leave a burn, most likely, but if it saved him then that really didn't matter, did it?

For what seemed like a very long while, nothing happened, and I pulled away again, stepping back and swinging at the air with a loud curse. I sank into the chair just as the monitor started beeping again, and a huge, ragged breath left his lungs and he coughed, panting painfully.

Staring at him in shock, my mouth slightly agape, before shaking my head with a sigh "The hell was that supposed to be? You scared me half to death…I thought I told you not to die on me! Weren't you listening?" I slumped forward with my head in my hands before starting to laugh.

Maybe it was because I was so tired, or just the overall stress of everything lately building up on me, but I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt and tears were coming to my eyes. I had bought him a little bit more time, for now. Hopefully it was enough.

"What're you laughing about?" Nate's tired voice asked in the back of my mind, and I sighed with a grin. "Oh, nothing, nothing at all!" I replied, and he scoffed lightly "You must be really tired…" he commented, chuckling a bit, and I nodded "I really must be. Ah, I don't know if I've ever laughed that hard before" I said, crossing my arms and tipping the chair back on two legs.

"You haven't. I'm glad though; ever since Xander showed up you've been a lot happier, believe it or not." He told me, and I could practically see him smiling. "Only because he brings so much trouble around with him! I haven't had this much to do in a long time" I shot back, looking down at said black haired boy. "Whatever you say. How is he doing anyways?" Nate asked, and I paused for a minute "Well…the same as when you went to sleep, really. Thank God." I murmured, and I could feel his confusion, though he didn't voice it.

"Right…thank God…" he whispered, genuinely relieved as he said it.

We sat there for a few more minutes, not saying much of anything; that's what sharing a mind and body does to you; the other knows what you're thinking and feeling at the same time you do, so most of the time you don't even have to talk. Of course, seeing how long Nate and I had been dealing with this, we'd long since learned to block each other; it was one of the requirements to being able to split up like we could. We had to separate in mind before we could even hope to separate in body.

The door opened and Damien stepped into the room with Malachi, both looking tired, and moved to check on how Xander was doing. "Forte wants us all out of here so he can give Xander all of his medicine and run a few more tests. I suppose we can go out and get some dinner if you're all hungry. I'll buy." Damien told us, and I shook my head "Pass; I'd rather have my wings cut off than deal with you moronic Demons any longer. Nate can take over; I'm going to sleep" I replied, and let control slip over to Nate, who laughed.

"Don't worry about him. He likes you and Xander, he's just too crabby to show it most of the time." Nate told Damien, who simply smirked "Indeed, Rey has always been very reserved with people he puts trust in. It seems that he's starting to open up a little bit" Malachi added, and I scoffed "Hah! Whatever; you two are delusional" I told Nate with a yawn before going to sleep.

So maybe I'd had the wrong idea about some Demons; that didn't matter. It didn't mean they were any less annoying to me than before!

Though I suppose I could learn to build up a tolerance to them. Especially after Xander pulled through this, I'd have to.

A/N: Yeah, like I said, this one is super short, but I felt as though I had to make sure everyone knows that Rey isn't a totally heartless person; he's just really careful about who he chooses to trust and get along with, and even then, he'll hide it until someone bluntly points it out, at which point he might acknowledge it, albeit a bit hesitantly, and probably with a nasty remark afterwards. Well...it doesn't look like Xander is doing too well right now, is he? We'll just have to see how things turn out in the next chapter, won't we? Until next time, please review, and make sure you let the people you care about, know you care for them, or they might never know!


	24. Don't Leave Me

Story: Dawning Radiance

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please don't use them as they are my babies...enjoy~

"That incident is…" she trailed off as the scene finally solidified, and I stepped back recognition dawning on me. I heard a gasp escape me "W-what is this supposed to be?" I demanded, looking around to see us surrounded by three Angels, a little dark haired boy, with tired, broken looking blue eyes wailing over a dead figure.

Ivy said nothing; just watched as the boy stood up and slammed into one of the angels, beating his fists on him to absolutely no avail. "I've been through this enough; I don't want to see it again" I mumbled, and the scene paused just as the boy was knocked over onto his back.

"You see, Xander…you're not the only one who's haunted by this event. I was there as well, I tried to help you." She told me, walking over to the blonde haired woman who was standing back a little; a worried expression on her face "That…was you? But…" I stammered, shaking my head as I looked between the two; they bore striking similarities to each other, making it obvious that it was as she'd said.

I moved to walk over to my younger self, kneeling down to get a closer look at the not-so-stranger.

That day, I'd been wearing a grey T-shirt with blue sleeves; the one with the jelly stain from when I'd wiped my mouth on it earlier, and a pair of blue shorts. My arms and legs were covered in nasty bruises and cuts and scars, and I reached over to run my fingers over a particularly bad scar that'd been left when my dad had smashed a glass bottle on my arm. Even my face didn't look how I remembered it; there were scratches on my cheek along with a small bruise on my forehead that disappeared into my hairline. Wide eyes that were normally a dark blue were almost black, and were dull and fearful behind the tough façade. There were red rings around my eyes and dark bags under them, as though I'd spent the night crying and hadn't gotten any sleep.

That wouldn't be a bad assumption though.

"Wait a minute. I didn't look like this. Things weren't that bad, were they?" I shook my head and stood up, backing away from the bruised and broken little boy. "They were. You may not realize it because this is what you grew up with, but it's true. Though there were times your father was good towards you, you're allowing those to overshadow the rest of the time, when he would beat you and scream at you until you would black out. Even then, you rarely let a single cry ever leave your mouth." She replied, watching as the event started up again, and her past self stepped in front of mine to begin arguing with Nigathiel, who had her sent out.

Ivy followed after her, and though I hesitated for a moment, I turned to go too. I was confused when the young Arc Angel disappeared from the sight of the humans, sank to her knees in the grass in front of my old house, and began to pray, murmuring with her hands together in her lap and her face turned upwards to the sky.

"O great and forgiving Lord, in Your name I pray that You will allow this boy to live on past this unjust punishment he has been given. Save this boy from his horrible fate and bring him up unto You as You have done so many others before him. Take him from his suffering and allow him to begin his life anew, Amen." She repeated quietly, over and over again.

When I heard what it was she was saying, my eyes widened a little, and I turned to catch Ivy's gaze in surprise "You prayed for me." I stated, and she nodded with a sigh "And it seems they were answered, in a roundabout kind of manner. You didn't deserve to be punished for your father's wrong doings." She told me, crossing her arms as the scene faded away and the whiteness returned around us.

Looking down at my feet, I tried to take this information in, and shook my head "Things still weren't as bad as you say…" I grumbled, and was taken aback when she suddenly moved forward and touched my head "Then allow me to unblock these memories you've been holding back all these years. Maybe then you'll realize exactly what you've gone through." She told me, and I opened my mouth to protest just as a soft light encased her fingers and a flood of memories came rushing to my mind, causing my head to pound painfully.

In one, I was yanked out from where I hid under my bed by my hair and tossed carelessly down the stairs, all while being yelled at for various things beyond my help. Then I was kicked, sent skidding and tumbling over the tile of the kitchen before slamming up against the counter, where a glass fell and shattered one my shoulder, sending shards flying all over the place.

Another had me lying on the ground, panting hard, as different things were thrown at me from across the room; books, toys, picture frames, even a heavy wooden chair at some point, and I just stayed like that on the floor, letting it all happen with little more than my hands fisted in the carpet and my lip bleeding from being bitten into so hard.

This one showed a roaring fire place; I was being shouted at to toss the picture frame with my last photo of my mother into the fire, and was vehemently refusing, clutching it to my chest protectively while I was beaten and battered until he finally grabbed my by the arm and shoved my hand with the picture into the fire, and he wouldn't let go, even when I started to scream and cry because it was starting to burn my hand and I was bleeding. He wouldn't let me move away until I let go of the frame, letting it drop into the burning and unforgiving flames in front of me.

Reflexively, I clenched my hand, lips pressed tightly together until the barrage of memories finally came to an end, and I took a few shaky breaths before looking over at Ivy, who stood watching me expectantly.

"I…remember all of that. What was I thinking?" I breathed, and she nodded "The only one who didn't see how bad things had gotten was you. You were safe up until now; it seems you're within inches of life at this point in time. No one knows for sure if you'll make it or not, but that moron of a scientist, Forte says he doesn't think you'll last much longer." She told me and I nodded. "And everyone else?" I asked, crossing my arms.

She smirked "Always so concerned about everyone but yourself. Perhaps that's why you're on the brink of death right now. It seems as though each of them has suffered a wound of some sort, though none of them very bad at all. Damien took quite a blow when he blasted through the rest of those Rogues to get to you, but he's at least on his feet again. It seems Malachi came away with little more than a gash on his leg and the back of his shoulder, but he was able to heal that almost immediately, and that Nephil took quite a beating as well; again, Malachi was able to heal him up fast and he's perfectly fine as well." She informed me with a sigh "And Valshe?" I returned with a frown, causing her to give a bark of a laugh.

"It seems you're quite taken with that girl. She has a slight concussion and a few minor scrapes and bruises, but aside from that, she was perfectly fine when she woke up. I guess she fainted from shock when she saw the shape you were in." she chucked and I frowned "I'm really dying, aren't I…?" I croaked, looking down at my hands "It seems that way. Shame really…though this all worked out rather well for the most part, don't you think?" she answered, and I looked up with a confused frown.

There was a moment where things began to fade around me, and we both looked around worriedly "It seems I'm going to have to cut this short. Wake up and talk to your friends." She told me, as everything began to disappear even faster "But what did you mean when you said it worked out rather well?" I asked as things became hard to make out and even she started to blur, her words growing dull and difficult to hear.

"Look at your life this time around Xander; all the friends and family you've made now. You're stronger now, and have much more to show for it. If you are to die soon, then you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, alright? Never forget that" she advised, before my eyes opened and I was staring at the ceiling of my bedroom, the sound of murmured voices and beeping machinery and the taste of something metallic filling my senses.

Coughing weakly, I turned my head the slightest little bit and was met with a harsh burst of pain in response to the movement. Darren was standing in the middle of the room with DJ and Damien, Valshe was off by the door, talking to what looked like Rey, and Malachi was standing off to the side, talking to Mistress Haruka—or, Ivy I supposed, and Forte.

I couldn't find my voice, no matter how hard I tried, though soon, Darren, who was facing me in his conversation noticed me watching everyone after a minute or so and his booming voice made everyone else I the room go silent "Xander, yer awake! How're ya feelin' kiddo?" he asked with a grin, approaching my bed with the others.

"Mmm…ahhhh, everything—" I gave another raspy, breathless cough before DJ handed me the glass of water from the bedside table, and with a concerning amount of difficulty, I managed to lift my hand and take it from him, having to pause and rest for a few moments before I could actually tip the glass to my lips. "Hurts." I finished, as Forte took the glass from me with a click of his tongue. "Yes, yes, I know. Stop complaining; the medication I have you on can only help you so much." He snipped, patting my head "But it's good to see you're finally conscious!" he added with a laugh.

"Yeah, I know" I replied, my voice becoming a bit more reliable than it was before. "Tha's no good. But e'ryone heard wha'cha did to Kari earlier. You really took care 'a business didn' ya, Xandie?" DJ teased, giving me a playful punch on the shoulder, at which I hissed painfully "Oops; tha' hurt? Sorry 'bout that!" he apologized, scratching his head with that big goofy grin of his.

For a little while everyone was quiet, and I couldn't help but steal a glance over at Ivy, who raised a thin brow at me and smirked "Got a problem, Xander?" she asked, and I shook my head immediately, cringing when I was hit with more pain "N-not at all." I replied, and she crossed her arms, continuing to smirk.

DJ wasn't at all as careful around me as everyone else was being, and plopped down beside me on the bed, looking thoughtful for a moment "Ya know, Xandie…that shrimp, Forte over there says you ain't gonna last much longer. Wha'd you think? You ain't gonna die on us, are ya?" he asked almost tentatively, watching me expectantly as everyone else was upon hearing the question.

Darren broke the thin silence by whacking DJ in the back of the head with a glare "Boy, you sure do know how to ask the wrong things at the wrong time, don' cha? Tha's nothing he wants to think abou' now! Best watch wha's comin outta your mouth!" he scolded, and DJ rubbed the back of his head gingerly with a frown.

"I'm jus' askin' what everyone else is thinkin'! He don' have to answer if he don' wanna!" he shot back, standing up with a glare, before turning back to me "You knew tha' didn' ya, Xandie? I don' mean to upset ya or anything…" he told me, and I chuckled before becoming quiet again for a little while. "I…don't really know." I admitted, catching a few people off guard; they must not have thought I'd answer, but they were definitely all listening now.

"I mean, even just talking like this is making me exhausted. Breathing is difficult and I hurt with even a little movement, but…I don't know. I definitely don't _want _to die now, but I don't know if I can fight much longer." I explained, and the room was silent aside from the constant beeping of the monitor beside me and my rasping breaths.

On my left, Valshe moved to take my hand, and squeezed gently before pulling away, looking as though she were on the verge of tears. "Don't worry about it too much though, all right? Things like this are unavoidable, so—" Damien cut me off with a sarcastic scoff, his fists clenched at his sides, a look of sheer anger on his face. "No, Xander; things like this _are _avoidable. If you'd just stuck to the promise, you wouldn't be like this right now!" he exclaimed loudly, causing Darren reached out and grip his shoulder, Damien trying to shake him off to no avail.

"If I'd stuck to the promise, you might've been like this, Damien! Besides, it's already done and over with now, so it's not like we can change it!" I argued back, and he shoved Darren, who wasn't expecting the sudden hostility, out of the way, then DJ, who tried to grab him and hold him back.

"Would you stop being so stubborn for five seconds? Why can't you just listen like you're supposed to, Xander? We're partners; that means we're supposed to work together for things like this! You think you've done everyone a huge favor by sacrificing yourself like this, but look at what you've done now! Everyone here is obviously worried sick about you, and they all care about you! They don't want to see you like this—_I _don't want to see you like this!" He shouted, shaking with anger, though there were tears welling in his eyes. "Gah…I'd hit you if I wasn't afraid it'd kill you! You're my best friend, Xander; you'd better not die yet, you hear me? Don't you dare!" he snarled, stomping furiously out of the room and out of our little apartment, slamming the door heatedly behind him.

All I could do was stare after him in shock, my mouth opening as I tried to find word that might bring him back and calm him down, though I knew that was about impossible at this point, before sighing and closing my eyes. "I'll go talk to 'im. He's jus' stressed out is all, Xander; don' think nothin' of it" I heard Darren say, opening my eyes to watch him exit the room, Ivy moving to follow after him "Hang on, Bolessi; I'll come with. Just in case you two start to cause any trouble." She said, and he gave a booming laugh and a nod, before they both left, shutting the door behind them.

For a while, nobody spoke, afraid that they would make the situation worse, until Rey moved to stand on my right, by the monitor, before holding something out to me; the box I kept on my dresser. "What is this?" he asked, putting it down on my stomach, where I gingerly reached up and opened it up to show him. "Just a box. I keep the necklace mom made me in it." I told him, taking the silver chain and lifting it out of the box.

That's all it really was; a thin silver chain with a small, dark blue bead on it, about the size of my pinky nail. This was truly all I had left of her, and I wore it all the time when I wasn't on a mission and didn't have to worry about it getting torn off, hanging just under my shirt. I offered it to him carefully "Usually I wear it. I guess all the excitement just made me forget to put it back on".

Rey nodded, holding out his hand as I dropped it into his palm. He examined it for a little while, holding the bead up by the light, where it shone with light blue streaks here and there "Do you want it on now?" he asked, and I smirked at him "Is that your way of offering to help me put it on?" I teased, and he frowned, reaching over to put it around my neck "Yeah, what of it? I suppose since you're so out of it now, I can help you out a little bit." He responded, pulling away and crossing his arms and huffing indignantly.

"How sweet of you; helping out your big brother!" I teased, and he glared at me "It's not like you can help yourself at this point. Much as I hate to admit it, Damien had a point; you should've waited until you got help" he shot back seriously, and I frowned, both of us going silent again as he grabbed the box from me and set it back on my shelf, moving to hang around by the door again.

Surprisingly, neither Malachi or Valshe had said anything at all since I'd woke up, instead deciding to walk aimlessly about the room, looking up at me every once in a while. Forte had slipped out of the room at some point, after finishing up whatever tests he was doing; probably around the time Damien started yelling. "I'm…really tired." I grumbled, stifling a yawn and finally taking notice of how leaden my body felt; I wasn't sure I could move at this point if I wanted to.

Rey scoffed, turning to leave the room, and Malachi smiled "Of course. After going through that much, it would be more concerning if you weren't." he chuckled, leaving with Rey so that it was just Valshe left in the room with me.

"I'm kind of afraid of you going to sleep again…" she admitted to me quietly, moving to sit beside me on the bed as DJ had been doing earlier, reaching down to lace our fingers together gently. "Why's that?" I asked, trying my best to smile up at her despite her obvious distress.

She shook her head quietly, swallowing hard and closing her eyes tight, before opening them and scanning my face carefully, as though trying to find something there. "What if you don't wake up again? This would be the last time I get to talk to you, and…I just hate that feeling, is all" she explained, voice constricted and hand clenching mine, causing one of the IVs there to press almost painfully into the back of my hand.

I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, instead opting to turn my hand over in hers so our palms were pressed together and she couldn't squeeze so hard. "I can't tell you if I will or not, but I'll do my best for you. Well…for everyone, really. Try not to think about the bad stuff so much, alright? You'll just stress yourself out even more" I comforted her, and she nodded, biting her lip before leaning over and burying her face in my neck. Not before I caught a glimpse of tears in her eyes though, and even though it hurt to have her leaning on me like this, I slowly lifted my arms and put them around her, my hand stroking her back for a little while.

"Can I be selfish for a little while?" Valshe sniffled, breath hot against my neck, and I nodded, eyes closing in exhaustion; I hoped I wasn't going to fall asleep with her trying to talk to me. "Don't leave me. Please, Xander...please get better." She begged, her voice cracking as her controlled crying started to become quiet, trembling sobs, her hands fisted in my shirt firmly.

All I could really do was sigh and continue to hold her until she calmed down a bit; my mind was too blurry at this point to say anything that would make any sense. "I can't promise something I can't help" I slurred tiredly once she'd quieted, my only response was a jolt of a hiccup "I told you I'd try my best. You're important to me so I don't want to leave you like this." I continued, not realizing I was getting more and more inaudible until she pulled away to look at me with puffy red eyes and tear streaks down her cheeks.

"Fine. That's fine. Do your best then" she agreed, before pushing herself off the bed and smoothing out her clothes, wiping her tears with the back of her hand before leaning down and pressing a light kiss on my lips. "You should get some sleep then…I'll come back later to check on you" she promised, straightening up and leaving the room silently, though I heard someone murmuring to her once she stepped out of the room and shut the door.

It only took me a few minutes before my eyes slipped closed again and I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When I opened my eyes again, the room was dark, the monitors flashing green lights on the walls and ceiling. For a little while, I debated on going back to sleep, until the door opened a crack, and a chocolate brown haired head peaked in quietly, looking at me. "Ah…how long've you been awake?" Nate asked me, slipping into the room with a little smile and pulling a chair up beside the bed. "Not long…" I grumbled reaching up to rub at my throat and finding to my dismay that I couldn't lift my arm even a little bit "How long was I asleep for?" I returned, giving up on the movement, looking over at him instead. "This will be the…fourth day now, I think." He told me, brows crinkling in worry, though he kept his smile through it all, maybe trying to keep me calm.

Four days…and I hadn't woken up once? I groaned weakly as a wave of pain and nausea pummeled me relentlessly, closing my eyes against the assault. "Are things getting any better now?" I kind of regretted asking this as soon as it came out of my mouth, due to the grimace he gave in respose, quickly realizing and making his face a expressionless as he could. "Actually…Forte was going to unplug you tomorrow. He says that you're only getting worse, and that…" he shook his head, shoulders tense as he took a settling breath and continued "It's pretty much our only option, without making you suffer any more than you already are. But that would be up to you; it's your life after all" he murmured, eyes downcast.

I stared at him for a while; somehow, this didn't surprise me anywhere near as much as it probably should've. I suppose I saw it coming when I woke up and couldn't move, when everything seemed like it was on fire, and breathing was a feat in itself.

"Maybe it'd be for the best…" I mused, and his head snapped up, eyes wide "You don't honestly think that, do you? I—I mean…" he hesitated, giving a soft sigh before smiling sadly at me "That's your choice. I wasn't thinking about how much pain you must be in right now, sorry" he apologized, giving a little nod, and I chuckled quietly "Don't be."

Suddenly, something from before popped into my head, and I frowned "Hey, mind if I ask you something?" I questioned, and he shook his head, eyebrows raised "Not at all; though I'm not sure I'll have an answer for you" he replied, waiting intently.

"Before, when we were fighting Kari and you jumped in to help Valshe? You said something to Kari that I've been curious about" I paused, and he stayed quiet leaning forward a little. "You said something about being Valshe's Guardian Angel; were you actually serious about that?" I asked, narrowing my eyes slightly at her.

For a little while, he was silent, head turned to the ceiling as though deep in though, before he looked back at me and shrugged "I was." He answered, holding up his hand as I opened my mouth to comment on it "I would've told you earlier, but things got a bit hectic. Valshe was asking about it before, and wanted to know if she had one; so she could meet them and thank them, but she didn't have one yet, so I…told her that if she really wanted one, all she had to do was talk to Malachi about it." A sigh excaped his lips and he ran a hand through his hair tensely.

"So she did. When Malachi called for me to come talk with him and I went in there and saw Valshe, I was honestly a bit worried. But he asked me if Valshe gave consent…if Rey and I would be her Guardians. We both accepted, and she did too. I didn't think she'd actually take me seriously when I told her about all of that, but at least now I can keep an eye on her so she stays out of trouble, you know? If you can't do it yourself, I mean" he added with a grin.

I nodded slowly, a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, though I suppose it could've been worse. "Yeah. If I can't do it myself" I reiterated, and his grin lessened to a nervous smile "Come on, don't be upset…it's really no big deal" he tried, but I scoffed "Right; no big deal at all. You're only the one who wants her for yourself" I sighed, and he laughed "So what if I do? She's happy with you; that's all I want. It's not like I'm going to try anything" he assured me, holding up his hands as though in surrender.

Laughing as he had done, I closed my eyes and gave a huge yawn "Honestly, I'm more worried about Rey than I am you" I told him, and he nodded, giving a smile "I really can't promise he won't. Though I wouldn't be too worried; he's much more of a gentleman than he sometimes acts. Even if he's a jerk to most people, he's still Nephilim, so he has people's best interests in mind"

Just as I was about to protest, the door opened again, and Damien entered, looking between Nate and I before turning to exit again, and muttering something under his breath. "It's fine; I can go if you want to talk to him" Nate called, standing up and moving to the door, where Damien had turned and nodded "Thanks" he replied as Nate left with a wave.

"Hey there" Damien greeted as he sat down, looking uncomfortable.

"Hey" I replied quietly, nervous for one reason or another. I couldn't help but notice how he was avoiding looking at me; his gaze instead directed at the door. "How're you feeling?" he asked after a little while, glancing at me briefly before his attention went back to the door.

"Haa…I really don't know. Not good at all" I told him, and he nodded solemnly "Did that Nephil tell you what Forte said…?" this time, he did look at me, and I saw that his normally bright violet shaded eyes were duller, as though he hadn't been sleeping well lately. "Yeah, he did. Do you believe him?" I returned, and he laughed mirthfully, putting his hand over his eyes and shaking his head "I don't know what to believe. Of course I don't want to believe him, but…maybe I should" he sighed, letting his hand drop away from his face in defeat.

Watching me with a sadness in his eyes that I hadn't ever seen, he continued to give a tiny, broken smile. "If he is right though, then I knew I had to talk to you about before." he grumbled, hand pounding lightly on his leg as he spoke; something he did when he was unsure of himself. "Look, I'm sorry I got so mad, alright? Seeing you like this is hard for me; when you've been so full of energy even when you have your attacks, that I…guess I kind of snapped. I don't take back what I said though; it was a stupid move." He sighed, crossing his arms and frowning at the corner of the bed.

"I should've kept my promise, huh?" I replied, and he nodded sternly, about to say something before I cut him off "But I'm sorry too. You have every right to be pissed at me" I chuckled, and he laughed in amusement, giving me a devilish grin "Like Heaven I do! You'd think you'd learn after a while!" he exclaimed, reaching over to ruffle my hair teasingly.

It was good neither of us were able to hold grudges with each other; I didn't really have the time to stay mad at my best friend when I was in such a fix. "If you want, you can save that punch for when I get out of this mess. That's the least I can give you" I told him, and he cracked his knuckles dramatically "All right; I'll make sure to make it a good one" he shot back, and we both laughed again.

It was odd though; there was a weird sensation in my chest that wasn't pain, but…it was almost as though it had fallen asleep, though that was impossible. My whole chest was numb and there were sharp prickles every time I took a breath.

But I brushed it off as a side effect of Forte's crazy medicines.

We talked for a while after that, trying to keep ourselves from worrying about things that were out of our hands, the sensation growing a little bit more with every passing moment.

When all of a sudden, my heart slammed painfully in my chest, and I gave a gruff cry, causing Damien to jump and look at me in concern. I whimpered, finding myself unable to draw a breath, and my vision quickly going dark as I passed out.

"Xander! Xander! H-Hey, there's something wrong! Forte, get in here!"

A/N: Okay, so the next chapter is the last one for sure, though I must say it's fairly short, so sorry for that in advance! Unless I decide later that I want to do a few special "After chapters", or whatever you'd want to call them. Like if any of you lovely readers have any questions about different things with the characters I could write a special little chapter for that! I know one of my friends was asking for another chapter about when Xander and Damien formed their blood bond and became partners, so I'll probably do that one.

Yes, this chapter is sad, and I apologize for that as well! It might not seem like it, but I love all of my characters; I really do! But my imagination tends to go where it goes, and I can't help that much. Until next time, please review, and remember to just keep breathing, yeah?


	25. A Lot Has Happened

Story: Dawning Radiance

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please don't use them as they are my babies...enjoy!

Before-hand A/N: I forgot to tell you in the last chapter that this chapter (the last chapter, might I add. Is in Damien's POV. That's probably going to make more sense when you read.

Of course I wasn't thinking when I yelled for Forte back there, and all at once, everyone had rushed into the room all at once, surrounding the bed and making it so Forte had to shove his way through to the machine, which had flatlined, and he busied himself checking everything, before calling for 'That electricity boy' to come help him.

Nate had moved to stand beside Xander, who lay limp and silent in the bed, and pressed his hands to Xander's chest; you could hear the zap as it left his hands, though there was no response. "Try again" I'd demanded, though he was already doing just that. Again, nothing.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Eventually, Malachi had to forcefully pull Nate away from the bed, and Darren had to do the same when I tried to push the Angel away, cursing loudly at him all the while.

I hadn't realized Forte was talking, and tuned in only when he shook his head "There's nothing we can do; he's not waking back up" he said bluntly, though he looked pretty shaken up; Xander was a friend to him just as he had been to the rest of us.

From there, things happened much too fast; Valshe gripped his hand, sobbing loudly "No! No, no no…you're wrong! No…!" she yelled hoarsely, putting Xander's hand up to her forehead and holding it there as though it were tethering her down.

Slowly, Xander's wings slipped from his back; his muscles no longer able to hold them in, and they lay on either side of him, taller than him and a sleek, pitch black.

Even Mistress Haruka, whom I hadn't realized was close to Xander at all had a few small tears fall from her eyes, though she was quick about drying them, licking her lips and clearing her throat before turning and storming out, Malachi noticing and following closely after her.

We all watched as Forte pulled all of the equipment off of Xander, shaking his head before pushing the monitor and other devices out of the room "That's it then. I couldn't help you at all, could I?" I caught him muttering as he left. On either side of me, both Darren and DJ cried, and I moved out of the way; Darren putting his arm around his son in a gesture of comfort.

The only ones in the room that weren't crying were myself and Nate, who was looking over at Xander with a dead expression, though at one point, his wings shot out of his back and a burst of electricity left his hands; leaving scorch marks on the floor where it'd hit "Damn it!" he shouted, before stomping out of the room, Valshe looking up and following after him, still crying as she did so.

"Ain't fair at all. Kid was barely startin' out" Darren said, shaking his head, tears still on his face, though he was no longer crying, and DJ nodded in agreement, still saying nothing. "Ya'd think with all he'd been through he'd get a lucky break at some point, huh? But lookit this. At least this was better than wha' he had back when he was human" he sighed, moving to pat Xander's shoulder before moving to exit. DJ let his dark, ash grey wings slip out just enough for his to pull off a single feather, before setting it next to Xander and leaving with his father.

For a while, I'd just started at him, laying there all peacefully and everything, before I walked over to him and punched him square in the jaw, causing his head to whip to the right. "There. Since you're out of this mess now. I just wish it didn't have to be like this" I'd whispered, choking back a sob of my own. I'd told myself I wouldn't cry for him; he wouldn't have wanted that. So with all my might, I bit back the tears that were trying to fill my eyes and gave him one last big grin.

"See you around, kid"

It was a year ago today that he'd died, and we had everyone gathered together in the human world. A lot had happened since then; I wonder if he'd be able to keep up with it all. Valshe had gone back to the human world to see her mother, who was more than thrilled to see her. Though eventually we had to explain the situation to her, she tentatively agreed to us carting Valshe around every once in a while, though no matter what, she was going to live at home. As for figuring out what she was; she'd decided that if she had to choose sides between her friends, then she would make her own side and those in it would be dedicated to stopping the fighting that had gone on between the Angels and Demons for so long. Surprisingly, more and more of both sides joined, finally causing the two sides to come to a tenuous peace treaty of sorts. The fighting was all done for now; it was one of the oddest feelings I'd even experienced.

Then, something he'd probably be happy about; when Mistress Haruka had stormed out of the room with Malachi, she'd been able to convince him that no matter how long it had been, Nigathiel had to pay for everything he'd been able to get away with in the past; from everything he'd done to Xander and more. Nate and Rey had no problem with helping them get the former Seraph the death sentence, so he was no longer able to create so much turmoil between the Ethereals. After that, Mistress Haruka and Malachi ended up getting together; odd. That's all I have to say about it, but I guess that's really none of my business.

On the topic of relationships, it looks like Valshe and those Nephil are pretty close now. They're all still getting over Xander though, so it'll probably be a while it anything solid happens there. If it happens at all, that is.

As for me, it's mostly the same things. I still have my wonderful touch when it comes to women, I'm still running stealth like I was before. Really, I'm just trying to keep myself busy; even if it's been a whole year, I'm still not over it yet. Still haven't let myself cry at all, I still won't go near his room or get rid of any of his things. Sometimes I still come home and call out to greet him, and then get that deep pain in my chest, but I'm getting used to it for the most part.

It had taken awhile, but we'd found where Xander had been buried when he'd died as a human, and decided that it would be best to leave his Demon body there as well; Black blood Demons didn't burn into ash when they died like Pure bloods did, and I think we all preferred it that way.

So that's where we all were now, gathered around the milky white marble stone, though none of us really said anything for a while.

"I can't believe it's been so long." Valshe commented quietly "Yeah, really. It feels like it was just yesterday that he was getting fired up about something or another." Nate replied, and everyone muttered their agreement.

We'd been here for a while already, and it was starting to sprinkle, clouds rolling in dark and heavy, and the wind picking up quite a bit.

"I guess we should head back" Darren sighed, and we all unfolded our wings, preparing to take off for our homes. Nate held on to Valshe, telling us all that he would bring Valshe back to her house and see us later. As they left, the rest of us said our goodbyes before parting, though not before taking one last look at the solemn tombstone.

Xander Costello

1994 – 2006

Beloved Son, and friend to all.

Will be missed dearly.

And on the opposite side:

Xander Costello

2006- 2013

The Stupid Hero

But we all love him anways.

Too bad it had to end so soon.

A/N: As I said, this chapter is really short compared to the others, and DON'T KILL ME, OKAY? It hurt me to write this just as much as it hurt all of you guys to read it, so I'm in a down mood myself right now. It's pretty nostalgic to finally be done with this story. I mean; I've been working on it for...two years now? And you've all stuck with me through thick and thin! I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Just reminding you all that if you have any requests for me to write about someone/something in this story, just tell me! I'm already doing Xander and Damien's blood bond thing from when they were young, so if you have anything you want to know, add that to your review, or PM me.

On a side note, some of you may have noticed that I started working on another story on here called Brutal Salvation. In my opinion, it's somewhat like this one, though it's set in more of a steampunk/post-apocalyptic setting. So if you liked this story, it would be great if you checked out this newer one too! Hopefully it won't take me two years to finish.

Until next time, please review, and give a huge pat on the back to all of my wonderful characters, and to all of your fellow readers for being here for the finish! Hopefully this won't be the last time I'm hearing from you all.


	26. Special Descriptions Chapter

A/N: Okay, hey guys. I felt as though people might want to see this, possibly? It's my page I built up while writing this story to keep everything straight and I figured that since the story is done now, it would be good to post this? It's just a descriptions page, but it has all of the named characters in it, plus descriptions of the species/classes for both Angels and Demons. Enjoy~!

Descriptions of Characters/Classes

Characters

Xander Costello

Age: 17

Hair: Jet Black

Eyes: Navy Blue

Height: 5'10"

Build: Athletic

Wings: Slim, Jet Black

Species: Black Blood Demon

Class: Ravager Demon

Damien Ravi

Age: 19

Hair: Dirty Blonde

Eyes: Violet

Height: 6'0"

Build: Athletic

Wings: Slim, Jet Black; Golden Fade

Species: True Blood Incubus

Class: Demi Eras

Valshe Marina

Age: 16

Hair: Silvery White

Eyes: Honey Gold w/ Flecks of Lighter Cream

Height: 5'7"

Build: Regular, Long legs

Wings: NONE

Species: Human

Class: High School Student

Forte Veirnelli

Age: 20

Hair: Dark Blonde (almost brown)

Eyes: Slate Grey

Height: 5'10"

Build: Slender/Slightly Boyish

Wings: Smaller, Lighter Black

Species: True Blood Demon

Class: Laethia

Kale Falsion Paulet

Age: 23

Hair: Dirty Blonde

Eyes: Emerald Green

Height: 6'1 ½"

Build: Slender

Wings: Wide, Raven Blue

Species: True Blood Demon

Class: Reaper Enforcer

Yuna Reynalds

Age: 18

Hair: Light Brown w/ Blonde Highlights

Eyes: Hazel

Height: 5'5 ½"

Build: Pear Shaped

Wings: Small, Orange/Red

Species: True Blood Fire Nixie

Class: Master's Assistant

Evyline Haruka

Age: 30

Hair: Platinum Blonde

Eyes: Crimson Red

Height: 5'7"

Build: Model-like

Wings: NONE

Species: Fallen Angel (Used to be an Arc Angel)

Class: Fallen Demi Eras Enforcer

Malachi Videlle

Age: 34

Hair: Black

Eyes: Teal

Height: 6'0"

Build: Slightly Built, Scarred

Wings: Double Pair, Slim, Sheer White

Species: Angel

Class: Avenging Angel

Nathaniel Harlow

Age: 17

Hair: Dark Brown/Chocolate

Eyes: Dark Brown

Height: 5'11 ½"

Build: Athletic

Wings: Iridescent White

Species: Nephilim

Class: Ascension (Later Guardian Ascension)

Rey Harlow

Age: 17

Hair: Dark Brown/Chocolate

Eyes: Dark Brown w/ Sea Green

Height: 5'11 ½"

Build: Athletic

Wings: White w/ Darker Grey Streaks

Species: Nephilim

Class: Ascension (Later Guardian Ascension)

Lane Costello

Age: 34 (At Death)

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Green

Height: 6'0"

Build: Slightly Built

Wings: NONE

Species: Human

Class: Drug Dealer

Dalton Saurian

Age: 36 (At Death)

Hair: Shaved

Eyes: Brown

Height: 6'2"

Build: Muscular

Wings: NONE

Species: True Blood Demon

Class: Slaughter Demon

Nigathiel 'Night' Harlow

Age: 37

Hair: Dark Brown/Chocolate

Eyes: Dark Brown

Height: 6'0"

Build: Built, Not as much as Saurian or Darren

Wings: Triple Pair, White w/ a few Grey Flecks

Species: Angel

Class: Seraph

Darren Bolessi

Age: 39

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

Height: 6'3"

Build: Muscular

Wings: Tall, Raven Blue

Species: True Blood Demon

Class: Phantom

Darren Jr. 'DJ' Bolessi

Age: 18

Hair: Black

Eyes: Light Brown

Height: 6'0"

Build: Thin, Muscular

Wings: Burned Looking, Black/Ash Streaked

Species: True Blood Demon

Class: Phantom

Phisetta 'Phi' Videlle

Age: 23

Hair: Black

Eyes: Amber (More-so Brown)

Height: 5'7"

Build: Slender

Wings: Small, White

Species: Angel

Class: Arc Angel

Grey Lancind

Age: 16

Hair: Black

Eyes: Light, Caramel Brown

Height: 5'11 ½"

Build: Skinny

Wings: NONE

Species: Human

Class: High School Student

Sam Durall

Age: 18

Hair: Short, Brown

Eyes: Brown

Height: 6'0 ½"

Build: Slightly Muscular

Wings: NONE

Species: Human

Class: High School Student

Reid Hennanteir

Age: 18

Hair: Black

Eyes: Hazel

Height: 6'1"

Build: Tall, Lanky

Wings: NONE

Species: Human

Class: High School Student

Luka Hennanteir

Age: 16

Hair: Short, Black

Eyes: Hazel

Height: 5'7"

Build: Almost Identical to Valshe

Wings: NONE

Species: Human

Class: High School Student

Leanne Fallor

Age: 16

Hair: Light Brown

Eyes: Green

Height: 5'8 ½"

Build: Hour Glass

Wings: NONE

Species: Human

Class: High School Student

Emily 'Emmy' Biscell

Age: 17

Hair: Medium Blonde

Eyes: Ice Blue

Height: 5'6"

Build: Average

Wings: NONE

Species: Human

Class: High School Student

Tianna 'Tia' Benette

Age: 17

Hair: Black and Blonde

Eyes: Hazel

Height: 5'5"

Build: Tiny

Wings: NONE

Species: Human

Class: High School Student

Rosallia 'Rose' Harlow

Age: 33 (At Death)

Hair: Jet Black

Eyes: Dark Blue

Height: 5'7

Build: Slender w/ Wider Hips

Wings: NONE

Species: Human

Class: Passed On

Karina 'Kari' Rigel

Age: 32

Hair: Dark Brown

Eyes: Green

Height: 5'6

Build: Slight

Wings: Large 'Light' Black

Species: Black Blood Demon

Class: Rogue

Castallia Pennt

Age: 62

Hair: Dark Blonde/Light Brown, Graying Slightly

Eyes: Indigo

Height: 5'6"

Build: Slightly Chubby, Curved Back

Wings: Tall Raven Blue

Species: True Blood Demon

Class: Demi Eras Enforcer

Gael Leon

Age: 34

Hair: Deep Reddish Brown

Eyes: Ice Blue

Height: 5'9 ½"

Build: Stalkier

Wings: Wide, More Square Shaped

Species: True Blood Demon

Class: Reaper Enforcer

Demon Species

True Blood: Born as a demon

Black Blood: Either born as a human who was chosen for one reason or another to be reborn as a demon, or the offspring of a True Blood demon and a human

Nixies: A species of demon that have slight affinity and resistance to a certain element, easily recognized by their wings. Looks can be deceiving

Incubus: A strictly male species of demon that have powers to charm/attract others at will; can control those they charm if powerful enough

Succubus: The strictly female counter-parts of an Incubus demon. Have the powers to charm/attract others at will; can control those they charm if powerful enough

Demon Classes

Ravager: A smaller class of warrior-based demons, led by either Master Paulet or Master Leon, typically given missions to protect different parts of the Underworld from Holy Ethereals or Rogues that invade them. If they become powerful enough, they can Awaken and become a Reaper demon.

Reaper: A very select group of demons that Awakened from their Ravager stages. Typically have reign over one or more of the Underworlds districts as an Enforcer due to their strength.

Demi Eras: A varying group of demons run by either Mistress Haruka or Master Pennt, usually run either surveillance, invasion, or sabotage missions. Though it is one of the largest groups, it is also one of the strictest, and at higher levels, the most respected classes.

Phantom: A class of demons that typically work with humans or beings of planes other than their own to help keep a kind of balance between them. This class has the most free-reign when doing different things or going to different places.

Laethia: A demon group that specializes in the analytical and medical fields; typically used for their prominent healing and medicinal abilities.

Slaughter: As stated in the name, this demon class is by far the most lethal and blood-thirsty group of all, taking joy in the massacre and torture of their victims. Usually only used when problematic groups of Holy Ethereals or Rogues need to be taken care of.

Master's Assistant: The trusted partners of demon Enforcers, if individuals need information on anything or anyone, Master's Assistants know almost everything there is and either have it memorized, written down, or on a database for future use.

Enforcers: These Demons are referred to by the other demons as 'Master' or 'Mistress' and rule the different classes and districts of the Underworld. This class is granted as an addition to the classes they already had (ie: Reaper Enforcer).

Rogues: Demons that broke away from the Faction. Because of this, they run missions of their own accord that typically interfere with what the ranked demons had planned for the same situation. Rogue demons and Faction demons -even though they're the same species- treat each other as enemies for obvious reasons.

Faction: This is what defines a Rogue demon from a demon with a class, and works for a 'Master' or 'Mistress'. Faction covers all demon classes except for Rogues, as they technically don't have a class at all. All Faction members also have their own personal 'Oni', a weapon that takes the form of the weapon that best fits the owner.

Holy Ethereal Species

Angel: Beings born as a Holy Ethereal

Nephilim: Either born as a human whose life was cut short and was reborn as a Holy Ethereal, or (rarely happens) the offspring of an Angel and a human.

Holy Ethereal Classes

High Seraph: The highest class of Holy Ethereal attainable, they have three sets of golden wings and are able to contact and carry out the wishes of God, keeping His existence a well kept secret from the rest of Angel society due to the uproar it would most likely cause. Are revered as one of the most powerful beings in existence; only two are allowed to be in power at a time, but they reign through death.

Seraph: Higher class of Holy Ethereal, they are usually the 'protectors' of Heaven, much like the Ravager demons are in the Underworld. They are skilled in ranged weaponry and are exceptional healers.

Avenging Angel: Typically have underlings that they teach and take care of all Ascensions. They are skilled warriors and are usually the ones sent down onto Earth or into the Underworld for surveillance or attack purposes.

Arc Angel: They are the best healers and magic users in Heaven, and prefer ranged weapons if their magic fails them. Usually stay in Heaven to take care of the young and injured or take up the mid section of raids so they can utilize their ranged attacks while being protected by the front and back flanks.

Ascensions: These Angels are the students of Avenging Angels and the occasional Seraph until they turn age 18 and are tested in many different ways before they're given their classes by one of the High Seraphs. Go along with, or do whatever their teachers ask them to.

Fallen Angel: An Angel that went through their Ascension stage and for one reason or another decided to flee Heaven and become one with the Underworld beings; they lose their wings to show that they are no longer Holy Ethereals.


End file.
